The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Polish \Pol"ish\, v. i.
   To become smooth, as from friction; to receive a gloss; to
   take a smooth and glossy surface; as, steel polishes well.
   --Bacon.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Polish \Pol"ish\, n.
   1. A smooth, glossy surface, usually produced by friction; a
      gloss or luster.
      [1913 Webster]

            Another prism of clearer glass and better polish.
                                                  --Sir I.
                                                  Newton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Anything used to produce a gloss.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Fig.: Refinement; elegance of manners.
      [1913 Webster]

            This Roman polish and this smooth behavior.
                                                  --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Polish \Pol"ish\, a. [From Pole a Polander.]
   Of or pertaining to Poland or its inhabitants. -- n. The
   language of the Poles.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Polish \Pol"ish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Polished; p. pr. & vb.
   n. Polishing.] [F. polir, L. polire. Cf. Polite, -ish]
   1. To make smooth and glossy, usually by friction; to
      burnish; to overspread with luster; as, to polish glass,
      marble, metals, etc.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Hence, to refine; to wear off the rudeness, coarseness, or
      rusticity of; to make elegant and polite; as, to polish
      life or manners. --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   To polish off, to finish completely, as an adversary.
      [Slang] --W. H. Russell.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

Polish
    adj 1: of or relating to Poland or its people or culture;
           "Polish sausage"
    n 1: the property of being smooth and shiny [syn: polish,
         gloss, glossiness, burnish]
    2: a highly developed state of perfection; having a flawless or
       impeccable quality; "they performed with great polish"; "I
       admired the exquisite refinement of his prose"; "almost an
       inspiration which gives to all work that finish which is
       almost art"--Joseph Conrad [syn: polish, refinement,
       culture, cultivation, finish]
    3: a preparation used in polishing
    4: the Slavic language of Poland
    v 1: make (a surface) shine; "shine the silver, please"; "polish
         my shoes" [syn: polish, smooth, smoothen, shine]
    2: improve or perfect by pruning or polishing; "refine one's
       style of writing" [syn: polish, refine, fine-tune,
       down]
    3: bring to a highly developed, finished, or refined state;
       "polish your social manners" [syn: polish, round, round
       off, polish up, brush up]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

202 Moby Thesaurus words for "polish":
   Atticism, abradant, abrasive, acculturation, acquired taste,
   aluminum oxide, ameliorate, appreciation of excellence,
   appropriateness, auto polish, beautify, better, breeding, brighten,
   brighten up, brightness, brilliance, brush up, buff, bump off,
   burnish, chasteness, chastity, choiceness, civility, civilization,
   civilized taste, civilizedness, clarity, classicalism, classicism,
   clean, clearness, colcothar, comeliness, con, conclude, consume,
   correct, correctness, corundum, crocus, cultivate,
   cultivated taste, cultivation, culture, daintiness, delicacy,
   destroy, develop, dignity, directness, discrimination, dispatch,
   dispose of, distinction, do away with, do in, dress, ease, eat,
   education, elaborate, elegance, elegancy, eliminate, embellish,
   emend, emery, emery board, emery paper, enculturation, end,
   enhance, enlightenment, evolve, excellence, fastidiousness,
   felicitousness, felicity, file, finesse, finish, fittingness, fix,
   flow, flowing periods, fluency, freshen, furbish, furbish up,
   garnet, genteelness, gentility, gentlemanlikeness, gentlemanliness,
   gentleness, glance, glaze, gleam, glint, gloss, glow,
   good breeding, good taste, grace, gracefulness, gracility,
   graciosity, graciousness, improve, kill, ladylikeness, lawn-roller,
   learn, limpidity, liquidate, lucidity, luster, mature, mend,
   murder, nail file, naturalness, neatness, niceness, nicety, oil,
   patina, pellucidity, perfect, perspicuity, plainness, polish off,
   polish up, polishes, propriety, pumice, pumice stone, purity,
   put away, quality, radiance, rasp, refine, refinement, renovate,
   repair, restraint, retouch, review, revive, ripen, roller,
   rottenstone, rouge, round, rub, rub out, rub up, sand, sandblast,
   sandpaper, scour, scrub, season, seemliness, sheen, shine,
   shoe polish, silicon carbide, silver polish, simplicity, slay,
   sleek, sleeker, slick, slick down, slicker, smooth, smoother,
   smoothness, socialization, sophistication, sparkle, spruce,
   spruce up, straightforwardness, study, subtlety, taste,
   tastefulness, terminate, terseness, tone up, touch up,
   unaffectedness, vamp, vamp up, varnish, wax, wolf down