12 April 2015
burnish
[bur-nish]
verb (used with object)
1. to polish (a surface) by friction.
2. to make smooth and bright.
3. Engraving. to flatten and enlarge the dots of (a halftone) by rubbing with a tool.
noun
4. gloss; brightness; luster:
the burnish of brass andirons.
Origin of burnish
Middle English, Middle French, Anglo-French
1275-1325; Middle English burnissh < Anglo-French burniss-, Middle French bruniss- (long stem of burnir, brunir to darken, polish), equivalent to brun- brown + -iss- -ish2
Related forms
burnishable, adjective
burnishment, noun
unburnished, adjective
Synonyms
1. buff, shine.
Dictionary.com
Examples from the web for burnish
– He must be careful not to trade away his goal of near-universal coverage to burnish his credentials as a deficit-cutter.
– The burnish of private money also helped make the college more of a supportive community.
– It is also keen to burnish its anti-inflation credentials.
Anagram
brush in
burn his
shun rib
Today’s aphorism
I still find each day too short for the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.
– John Burroughs
On this day
12 April 1961 – Uri Gagarin (Russian) becomes the first man in space.
12 April 1989 – death of Sugar Ray Robinson (Walker Smith Jr), American welterweight and middleweight professional boxing champion, declared to be the greatest boxer of all time. Sugar Ray stood at 5′ 11″ (1.80m). He fought 200 fights, winning 173 (108 by knock-out), lost 19, drew six, with two no contests. By 1946 Sugar Ray had won 40 fights straight, but was denied a shot at the world welterweight championship because he refused to cooperate with the mafia, which controlled much of boxing. In December 1946, he was finally allowed to contest the world championship and won. In 1947 Sugar Ray defended his welterweight title against Jimmy Doyle. In the eighth round, Doyle was knocked out and died later that night. Sugar Ray crossed weight classes and also won the world middleweight championship. In 1950, he broke the record for the shortest fight by knocking out Jose Basora 50 seconds into the first round. The record wasn’t broken for a further 38 years. in 1951, he fought Jake La Motta in what became known as the St Valentine’s Day massacre after the fight was stopped in the 13th round when La Motta was out on his feet, unable to even lift his arms throw a punch. That fight and some of the other matches with La Motta were adapted for the Martin Scorsese movie, Raging Bull. Born 3 May 1921.