# polish

Pronunciation: say "PO-lish" US /ˈpɑ.lɪʃ/, UK /ˈpɒl.ɪʃ/

## Verb

1. To create a shine or a very smooth finish on something using friction, cleaning, or abrasion.
   - Simple: To rub something until its surface is very smooth and shiny.
   - _Jewelers polish rough stones on a spinning wheel until the facets catch the light._
   - _She spent the morning polishing up the silver for the dinner party._
5. To refine something by removing its imperfections.
   - Simple: To make something better by getting rid of its mistakes and rough parts.
   - _Editors polish the final draft before it goes to print._
   - _She spent the weekend polishing her speech for the conference._
8. To give shoes a coating of shoe polish.
   - Simple: To put shoe polish on your shoes.
   - _Recruits polish their dress shoes each night, working the black paste into the leather._
   - _He polished his loafers with an old rag before the interview._
9. To refine someone or something by wearing away rudeness, coarseness or rustic manners, making them elegant and polite.
   - Simple: To make someone or something less rough and more polite and graceful.
   - _Boarding schools once promised to polish the sons of farmers into gentlemen._
   - _Two seasons in society had polished her into a confident, gracious hostess._
10. To take on a smooth, glossy surface, as through friction.
   - Simple: To become smooth and shiny, for example when rubbed.
   - _Hardwoods such as maple polish to a deep shine._
   - _The brass rail has polished bright where thousands of hands have gripped it._

## Adjective · Polish

Pronunciation: say "POH-lish" US /ˈpoʊlɪʃ/, UK /ˈpəʊlɪʃ/

2. Of, from or native to Poland, or relating to the language of Poland.
   - Simple: From Poland, or having to do with the language people speak in Poland.
   - _The deli on the corner sells Polish sausages and dark rye bread._
   - _Polish spelling uses letters such as ł and ż that English does not have._

## Noun

3. A substance rubbed onto a surface to make it smooth and shiny.
   - Simple: Something you rub onto a surface to make it clean and shiny.
   - _She keeps a tin of brass polish under the kitchen sink._
   - _Different polishes are made for wood, metal and leather._
6. Refinement; a clean, finished quality in the way something is performed or presented.
   - Simple: A smooth, skilled quality in the way someone does or shows something.
   - _The young pianist played with a polish beyond her years._
   - _The final version of the app has the polish the test release lacked._
7. Cleanness, smoothness and shine, especially of a surface.
   - Simple: The clean, smooth shine that a surface has.
   - _The jeweler buffed the silver ring to a mirror polish._
   - _Years of handling had given the wooden banister a soft polish._

## Noun · Polish

4. The Slavic language spoken in Poland. (pronounced: say "POH-lish" US /ˈpoʊlɪʃ/, UK /ˈpəʊlɪʃ/)
   - Simple: The language people speak in Poland.
   - _The menu was printed in both Polish and English._
   - _She translates technical manuals from Polish into German._
11. A breed of chicken with a large crest of feathers on its head. (pronounced: say "POH-lish" US /ˈpoʊlɪʃ/, UK /ˈpəʊlɪʃ/)
   - Simple: A kind of chicken with a big puff of feathers on its head.
   - _The Polish is easy to spot in any flock, its crest of feathers spilling over its eyes._
   - _Breeders of show poultry prize Polish for their dramatic crests._

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3, 5–10** — From Middle English polishen, from Old French poliss-, a stem of polir, from Latin polīre ("to polish, make smooth"), from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- ("to drive, strike, thrust"), from the notion of fulling cloth.
**Meanings 2, 4** — Formed from Pole + -ish.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/polish (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).