[f. prec. sb.; or a. F. bronzer, 16th c. in Littré.]
1. trans. To give a bronze-like surface or appearance to (metal, wood, etc.) by any mechanical or chemical process.
1645. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), I. 196. Figures in plaster and pasteboard, which so resemble copper that … they cannot be distinguished, he has so rare an art of bronzing them.
a. 1852. Moore, K. Crack, vi. 2. Mending their legs and new bronzing their faces.
1846. G. Wright, Cream Sci. Knowl., 61. The art of bronzing consists in painting the substance to be bronzed of a dark-green colour, and then rubbing the prominences with bronze-coloured dust.
2. fig. To render unfeeling or shameless; to harden, to ‘steel.’
1726. C. D’Anvers, Craftsman, xvi. (ed. 3), 137. His face was bronzed over with a glare of confidence.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., V. 44. Art, cursed art! wipes off th’ indebted blush From nature’s cheek, and bronzes ev’ry shame.
1830. Fraser’s Mag., I. 686. Habituation to these distressing calumnies has at length bronzed my feelings.
3. To make like bronze in color; to brown.
1792. Rogers, Pleas. Mem., 51. The bald veteran … richly bronz’d by many a summer sun.
1863. Longf., Way-side Inn, Prel. 54. The firelight … bronzed the rafters overhead.
† 4. To impose upon, cheat. Obs. slang.
1817. Blackw. Mag., I. 137. Beware that you are not ‘bronzed’; take care that what you publish is authentic.
5. intr. To become like bronze, to turn brown.
1880. [see BRONZING ppl. a.].
