Forms: 4–5 burnissh, -essh, -yssch, bornyssh, 4–6 burnyssh, -isch, bornysch, 5 bornysh, burnesh, -esch, -eyssh, 5–6 burnysh, 6 burnech, bournysh, -yssh, byrnysh, 6– burnish. Pa. pple.: also 4 bur-, bornyst(e, 5 burnysyd, byrnyst, 6 bur-, birneist. [f. OF. burniss- stem of burnir, var. of brunir; cf. Pr. bornir; see BURN v.2]
1. trans. To make (metal) shining by friction; to furbish; to polish (a surface) by rubbing with a hard and smooth tool.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., 554. Þe beryl bornyst byhouez be clene.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, VIII. 225. Thair basnetis burnyst var all brycht.
1460. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 102. Off clothes of gold burneysshed bright.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars (1852), 36. The standert new payntyd … the crosse new burnechyd.
1652. Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., 192. They … burnish the hilts of their swords with the teeth of such great Animals as swim in the Sea.
1837. Thirlwall, Greece, IV. xxxiii. 291. Their shields were burnished for the occasion.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, I. 424. Gold-leaf is laid upon the edges, and is then burnished with a polishing tool, tipped with agate.
b. fig. (Of things non-material.)
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (1531), 61 b. Hye walles & noble, all bournysshed and polysshed with charite.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (Arb.), 155. Figuratiue speaches [are] the instrument wherewith we burnish our language.
1606. Dekker, Sev. Sins, II. (Arb.), 21. If a Lye … be not smooth enough, there is no instrument to burnish it, but an oath.
1728. Young, Love Fame, VII. (1757), 166. Pursuit of fame … into coxcombs burnishes our fools.
† c. in extended nonce-use.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., V. viii. 29. So forth he came all in a cote of plate Burnisht with bloudie rust.
2. transf. To make bright and glossy; to overspread with luster.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1085. Þenne watz her blyþe barne buryst so clene.
1658. Sir T. Mayerne, Archimag. Anglo-Gall., xix. 17. You may burnish your pye or pasty and immediately after you may put it to the Oven.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 249. Fruit burnisht with Golden Rind, Hung amiable.
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, xii. 94. As he proceeds in burnishing the lights.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Cinnamon & Pearls, iv. 74. A mild sunshine burnished the scene.
b. absol. for refl. To make oneself shine.
1701. D’Urfey, Pills, II. (1719), 104. A … flashy Fop … Who if he is not burnishing thinks he all’s Time does lose.
3. Of a stag: To rub the dead ‘velvet’ or skin from his horns [cf. Fr. brunir in same sense]; applied loosely to the annual renewal of the horns, perhaps by confusion with BURNISH v.2
1616. Bullokar, Burnish, is also a terme among hunters when Harts spread their hornes after they be fraied.
1677. N. Cox, Gentl. Recreat. (1706), 64. All Stags as they are burnish’d, beat their Heads dry against some Tree or other.
1693. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen., 289. The Deer burnisheth his head.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Burnishing, Deer are said to burnish their heads, when rubbing off a white downy skin from their horns against a tree, they thrust them … into a reddish earth, to give them a new colour and lustre.
1792. Osbaldiston, Brit. Sportsm., 83/1.
4. intr. To become bright or glossy; to shine, gleam. Also fig.
1624. Fletcher, Rule a Wife, I. How you itch, Michael! how you burnish!
1713. Swift, Salamander, Wks. 1755, III. II. 76–7. I’ve seen a snake … Burnish, and make a gaudy show.
1763. C. Smart, Song David, 61. The crocus burnishes alive Upon the snow-clad earth.
a. 1834. Lamb, Wks., 491. With Churchill’s compliment still burnishing upon her … lips.
5. trans. To fix into (a setting) by pressing down the metal rim with a burnisher.
1793. Sir G. Shuckburgh, in Phil. Trans., LXXXIII. 109. Upon the cell, into which the glass is burnished, and also upon the tube of the telescope, into which the cell is screwed.
