varnish

English

Alternative forms

• vernish (obsolete)

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^(key): /ˈvɑː(ɹ)nɪʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)nɪʃ

Noun

varnish (countable and uncountable, plural varnishes)

1. A type of paint with a solvent that evaporates to leave a hard, transparent, glossy film.
2. Anything resembling such a paint; glossy appearance.
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 12, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     the varnish of the holly and ivy

3. (by extension) A deceptively showy appearance.
   • 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]:

     And set a double varnish on the fame / The Frenchman gave you.

4. (rail transport, US, informal, dated) a passenger train, probably derived from the varnished passenger cars used at one time.
   • 1959, David P. Morgan, editor, Steam's Finest Hour, Kalmbach Publishing Co.:

     Every transcontinental but two settled on the simple articulated for freight service, and all of them coupled their varnish to the 4-8-4.

Derived terms

• desert varnish
• nail varnish
• rock varnish
• varnishless
• varnishlike
• varnish polish
• varnish tree
• varnishy

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: ワニス (wanisu)

Translations

transparent paint

• Albanian: llak (sq) m
• Arabic: وَرْنِيش m (warnīš)
• Armenian: լաք (hy) (lakʻ)
• Azerbaijani: lak
• Belarusian: лак m (lak)
• Bengali: বার্নিশ (bn) (barniś)
• Bulgarian: лак (bg) m (lak)
• Burmese: ဗားနစ် (my) (ba:nac)
• Catalan: vernís (ca) m
• Central Melanau: berenih
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 清漆 (zh) (qīngqī), 漆 (zh) (qī)

• Czech: lak (cs) m
• Danish: fernis c, lak c or n
• Esperanto: verniso (eo)
• Estonian: lakk (et)
• Finnish: lakka (fi), vernissa (fi)
• French: vernis (fr) m
• Georgian: ლაკი (laḳi)
• German: Lack (de) m, Firnis (de) m
• Hindi: वार्निश (hi) m (vārniś)
• Hungarian: lakk (hu), politúr (hu), fénymáz (hu)
• Ingrian: öljy
• Interlingua: vernisse
• Irish: vearnais f
• Italian: vernice (it) f
• Japanese: ワニス (ja) (wanisu), ニス (ja) (nisu), 仮漆 (ja) (かしつ, kashitsu)
• Kazakh: лак (lak)
• Korean: 니스 (niseu), 옻 (ot), 바니시 (banisi)
• Kyrgyz: лак (ky) (lak)
• Latvian: laka f
• Lithuanian: lakas m
• Malay: varnis
• Manx: lossanagh m, varnish f
• Maori: wānihi
• Mokilese: parnij, warnis
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ferniss (no) m, lakk (no) m

  Nynorsk: ferniss m, lakk m

• Occitan: vernís (oc) m
• Ottoman Turkish: ورنیك (vernik), روغن (revgan, rugan)
• Persian: ورنی (fa) (verni)
• Polish: lakier (pl) m
• Portuguese: verniz (pt) m
• Romanian: vernis (ro) n, lac (ro) n
• Russian: лак (ru) m (lak)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ла̏к m

  Roman: lȁk (sh) m

• Slovak: lak m
• Slovene: lak (sl) m
• Spanish: barniz (es) m
• Swedish: lack (sv) c, fernissa (sv) c
• Tagalog: barnis, alyamas
• Tajik: лак (lak)
• Thai: น้ำมันชักเงา
• Turkish: vernik (tr)
• Turkmen: lak
• Ukrainian: лак m (lak)
• Uzbek: lak (uz)
• Venetan: vernize
• Vietnamese: sơn (vi), véc ni
• Welsh: farnis m, farnais m

anything resembling such a paint

• Bulgarian: гланц (bg) m (glanc)
• Danish: fernis c, lak c or n
• Finnish: lakka (fi)
• German: Firnis (de) m
• Hungarian: kence (hu)
• Slovak: lesk
• Venetan: vernize

a deceptively showy appearance

• Bulgarian: лустро (bg) n (lustro)
• Danish: fernis c
• Finnish: pintakiilto
• Hungarian: máz (hu)
• Portuguese: verniz (pt) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} vernis (nl) m, ^{(please verify)} lak (nl) m
• French: ^{(please verify)} vernis (fr)
• German: (1) ^{(please verify)} Lack (de) m, ^{(please verify)} Firnis (de) m
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} vernice (it)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} barniz (es)

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) To apply varnish.
2. (transitive) To cover up with varnish.
3. (transitive) To make something superficially or deceptively attractive

   varnish the report

4. (transitive) To gloss over a defect.
   • 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”, in Essays: First Series:

     [...] 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.

Derived terms

• revarnish
• varnishable
• varnisher
• varnishing day
• varnishment

 

Translations

to apply varnish

• Bulgarian: лакирам (bg) (lakiram)
• Catalan: envernissar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 塗漆／涂漆 (zh) (túqí)

• Finnish: lakata (fi)
• French: vernir (fr)
• Georgian: ლაქის წასმა (lakis c̣asma), ლაკირება (laḳireba)
• German: lackieren (de), firnissen (de)
• Hungarian: lakkoz (hu), politúroz (hu), fényez (hu)
• Ingrian: öljytä
• Japanese: 塗る (ja) (ぬる, nuru)
• Maori: wānihi
• Norman: vèrni
• Polish: lakierować (pl)
• Portuguese: envernizar
• Russian: лакирова́ть (ru) impf (lakirovátʹ)
• Slovak: lakovať
• Spanish: barnizar (es), lacar (es)
• Swedish: lacka (sv)
• Turkish: verniklemek (tr)

to cover up with varnish

• Bulgarian: лакирам (bg) (lakiram)
• Finnish: lakata (fi)
• Georgian: ლაკირება (laḳireba)
• Hungarian: lakkoz (hu), politúroz (hu), fényez (hu)
• Ingrian: öljytä
• Polish: lakierować (pl)
• Portuguese: envernizar
• Russian: лакирова́ть (ru) impf (lakirovátʹ), покрыва́ть ла́ком impf (pokryvátʹ lákom)
• Slovak: nalakovať, zalakovať
• Spanish: barnizar (es), lacar (es)
• Swedish: lacka (sv)

to gloss over a defect

• Bulgarian: прикривам (bg) (prikrivam)
• Georgian: შენიღბვა (šeniɣbva), შელამაზება (šelamazeba), დაფარვა (daparva)
• Hungarian: szépítget (hu), takargat (hu), kozmetikáz (hu)
• Portuguese: envernizar
• Russian: прикра́шивать (ru) impf (prikrášivatʹ)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} vernissen (nl), ^{(please verify)} lakken (nl)

Anagrams

• Harvins, Shirvan, hrivnas

Manx

Etymology

Borrowed from English varnish.

Noun

varnish f (genitive singular varnish, plural varnishyn)

1. varnish

Synonyms

• lossanagh

Derived terms

• varnish ingney (“nail varnish”)