varnish

CEFRB1

/ˈvɑː(ɹ)nɪʃ/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A clear liquid painted on wood to give it a hard shiny surface.

  2. 02

    verb

    To cover a surface with a clear shiny coating.

Examples

  • It looks like I'm going to have to varnish my bookshelves again.

  • We must give it a coat of varnish.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
4

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A deceptively showy appearance.

  2. Anything resembling such a coating; a glossy appearance.

  3. A clear or translucent liquid coating composed of resin dissolved in a solvent, which dries by evaporation to form a hard, protective, and typically glossy finish.

More examples

In context

  • varnish the report

  • And set a double varnish on the fame / The Frenchman gave you.

  • the varnish of the holly and ivy

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The carpenter applied a clear blank to preserve the natural wood color.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English vernisch, vernish, from Old French vernis, from Medieval Latin vernix, veronix, from Byzantine Greek Βερενίκη (Bereníkē, “Berenice”), a town in Cyrenaica, now called Benghazi.