burnish
verb /ˈbɜːnɪʃ/
/ˈbɜːrnɪʃ/
(formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they burnish | /ˈbɜːnɪʃ/ /ˈbɜːrnɪʃ/ |
| he / she / it burnishes | /ˈbɜːnɪʃɪz/ /ˈbɜːrnɪʃɪz/ |
| past simple burnished | /ˈbɜːnɪʃt/ /ˈbɜːrnɪʃt/ |
| past participle burnished | /ˈbɜːnɪʃt/ /ˈbɜːrnɪʃt/ |
| -ing form burnishing | /ˈbɜːnɪʃɪŋ/ /ˈbɜːrnɪʃɪŋ/ |
- burnish something to polish metal until it is smooth and shinyOxford Collocations DictionaryBurnish is used with these nouns as the object:
- credentials
- image
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French burniss-, lengthened stem of burnir, variant of brunir ‘make brown’, from brun ‘brown’.