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''varnish'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260822002005-00-⌔

varnish - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

varnish (countable and uncountable, plural varnishes)

  • A clear or translucent liquid coating composed of resin dissolved in a solvent, which dries by evaporation to form a hard, protective, and typically glossy finish.
    • ✤ ..; and this process should be continued until all the gum is properly dissolved, which is easily known by having an empty tin can to pour the varnish into, until near the last, which is to be poured into a gallon measure;…1
  • Anything resembling such a coating; a glossy appearance.
    • ✤ the varnish of the holly and ivy2
  • (figuratively, by extension) A deceptively showy appearance.
    • ✤ And set a double varnish on the fame/The Frenchman gave you.3
  • (rail transport, US, informal, dated) A passenger train, probably derived from the varnished passenger cars used at one time.
    • ✤ Every transcontinental but two settled on the simple articulated for freight service, and all of them coupled their varnish to the 4-8-4.4

Verb

varnish (third-person singular simple present varnishes, present participle varnishing, simple past and past participle varnished)

  • (intransitive) To apply varnish.
  • (transitive) To cover up with varnish.
  • (transitive) To make something superficially or deceptively attractive
    • ✤ * varnish the report*
  • (transitive) To gloss over a defect.
    • ✤ […] Go love thy infant; love thy wood-chopper: be good-natured and modest: have that grace; and never varnish your hard, uncharitable ambition with this incredible tenderness for black folk a thousand miles off. Thy love afar is spite at home.5

Etymology

From Middle English vernisch, vernish, from Old French vernis, from Medieval Latin vernix, veronix, from Byzantine Greek Βερενίκη (Bereníkē, “Berenice”), a town in Cyrenaica, now called Benghazi.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈvɑː(ɹ)nɪʃ/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)nɪʃ

Printed 2026-08-22.

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Footnotes

  1. 1847, editorial staff, “White Hard Spirit of Wine Varnish”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 72: ↩

  2. 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC: ↩

  3. c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]: ↩

  4. 1959, David P. Morgan, editor, Steam’s Finest Hour, Kalmbach Publishing Co.: ↩

  5. 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”, in Essays: First Series: ↩