burnish

Etymology 1

The verb is derived from Middle English burnishen, burnysshen (“to polish, burnish; (figuratively) to brighten, give lustre to; to clean (something) until shiny; to decorate (with something shiny), adorn”) [and other forms], from burniss-, a stem of Old French burnir (compare, for example, the first-person present singular indicative form burnis), a variant of brunir (“to make clean and shiny, polish; to make brown”) (modern French brunir), from Frankish *brūnijan (“to polish, make resplendent”), from Proto-Germanic *brūnijaną (“to decorate; tan”), from Proto-Germanic *brūnaz (“brown”, adjective), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”, adjective). Doublet of brown and brunneous. The noun is derived from the verb.

verb

1. (transitive)
   1. To make (something, such as a surface) bright, shiny, and smooth by, or (by extension) as if by, rubbing; to polish, to shine.
      In pottery, a stone is sometimes used to burnish a pot before firing, giving it a smooth, shiny look.
      Fire Renovates and Burniſheth the Mine, / The Spirit of VVisdom, makes the Face to ſhine: / Fire elevates, inclines things to Aſcend, / The Spirit of Faith too makes Souls upvvard tend: […] 1663, Edward Sparke, “Poem 15. On Whitsunday.”, in ΘΥΣΙΑΣΤΗΡΙΟΝ [Thusiastērion] vel Scintilla-Altaris. Or Primitive Devotion in the Feasts and Fasts of the Church of England.[…], 3rd edition, London: […] R. Wood, for H. Brome,[…], →OCLC, page 327
      Thou [the sun] smilest on the sunflower craning after thee, / And burnishest my brother of the vane, […] 1910, Edmond Rostand, translated by Gertrude Hall, Chantecler: Play in Four Acts, New York, N.Y.: Duffield and Company, →OCLC, act I, scene ii, page 24
   2. Of a stag: to remove the velvet">velvet (“skin and fine fur”) from (its antlers) by rubbing them against something; to velvet">velvet.
      The Stagg or Buck burnisheth his head, by rubbing it againſt the trees, Het Hart wrijſt ſijn hooſt tegen de boomen. 1658, Hendrick Hexham, “The Termes and Words of the Art of Hunting, and the Interpretation of Them out of English into Netherdutch”, in Het Groot Woorden Boeck: Gestelt in ’t Neder-duytsch, ende in ’t Engelsch[…] = A Large Netherdutch and English Dictionarie;[…], Rotterdam: […] Arnout Leers, →OCLC, column 2
   3. (figurative) To make (someone or something) appear positive and highly respected.
      He burnisheth stale villanies afresh. / Whilst, ravenous as sharks for human flesh, / His gaping audience bold the tumid food, / More grateful the more foully 'tis imbued. 1870, The Superior Animal; a Satire, London: J. Haddon & Co.,[…], →OCLC, page 15
      Bonnie Parker helped burnish her own image. 2006, Laura Browder, “Maid Marians and Bad Mothers: From the Gungirls of the 1920s to the Gangsters of the 1930s”, in Her Best Shot: Women and Guns in America, Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, page 133
      In particular, those who experienced her Elizabeth of Hungary's]three rose miracles did the most to burnish her legend. 2008, Otto Rahn, “Meran”, in Christopher Jones, transl., Lucifer’s Court: A Heretic’s Journey in Search of the Light Bringers, 1st U.S. edition, Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions, part 2, page 108
      Desperate to burnish her legacy, Louise pleads her case for higher status based on her achievements on Earth as a philanthropist, artist, and occasional royal rebel. 2016, Geo Takach, “War of the Wild Roses”, in A. Hansen, S. Depoe, editors, Scripting the Environment: Oil, Democracy and the Sands of Time and Space (Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication), Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, Springer Nature, →DOI, page 165
      One of her Sheryl Sandberg's] primary roles had been to charm Washington on Facebook's behalf, and protect and burnish its image. Neither project was going particularly well. 8 July 2021, Sheera Frenkel, Cecilia Kang, “Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg’s partnership did not survive [Donald] Trump”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-29
2. (intransitive)
   1. To become bright, glossy, and smooth; to brighten, to gleam, to shine forth.
   2. (figurative) To appear positive and highly respected.

noun

1. (countable)
   1. A shine of something which has been polished; a lustre, a polish.
   2. A shiny layer applied to a surface or other thing.
2. (uncountable) The making of something bright, shiny, and smooth by, or (by extension) as if by, rubbing; (countable) an instance of this; a burnishing, a polishing, a shining.
   With a good burnish, the old table should fetch a higher price.

Etymology 2

From Middle English barnishen, barnish (“to grow big (with child), to become pregnant; to grow stout or strong”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from barn (“child, offspring; infant; unborn child; human being, person; male person, man (especially a young man or young warrior)”). (from Old English bearn (“child”), from Proto-West Germanic *barn (“child”), from Proto-Germanic *barną (“child”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”)) + -ishen (suffix forming verbs).

verb

1. Of a person's body: to grow large or stout; to fatten, to fill out.
2. (by extension) Of a thing: to increase in size; to expand, to spread out, to swell.