1.
[syn: shining, polishing]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Polishing \Pol"ish*ing\,
a. & n. from Polish.
[1913 Webster]
Polishing iron, an iron burnisher; esp., a small smoothing
iron used in laundries.
Polishing slate.
(a) A gray or yellow slate, found in Bohemia and Auvergne,
and used for polishing glass, marble, and metals.
(b) A kind of hone or whetstone; hone slate.
Polishing snake, a tool used in cleaning lithographic
stones.
Polishing wheel, a wheel or disk coated with, or composed
of, abrading material, for polishing a surface.
[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):
polishing
n 1: the work of making something smooth and shiny by rubbing or
waxing it; "the shining of shoes provided a meager living";
"every Sunday he gave his car a good polishing" [syn:
shining, polishing]