The Collaborative International Dictionary
Burnish \Bur"nish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Burnished; p. pr. & vb. n. Burnishing.] [OE. burnischen, burnissen, burnen, OF. burnir, brunir, to make brown, polish, F. brunir, fr. F. brun brown, fr. OHG. br?n; cf. MHG. briunen to make brown, polish. See Brown,
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] To cause to shine; to make smooth and bright; to polish; specifically, to polish by rubbing with something hard and smooth; as, to burnish brass or paper.
The frame of burnished steel, that east a glare From far, and seemed to thaw the freezing air.
--Dryden.Now the village windows blaze, Burnished by the setting sun.
--Cunningham.Burnishing machine, a machine for smoothing and polishing by compression, as in making paper collars.
Wiktionary
polished, made shiny by rubbing (especially with a burnisher). v
(en-past of: burnish)
WordNet
Usage examples of "burnished".
The faded magnificence of its coloured patches had returned to their initial, burnished brilliance.
It was a burnished brown, layers of stiff curboille, wax-boiled leather engraved with spiral designs.
Her hair was a mass of dark foam, at the burnished luster of which the dim light only hinted.
Guards were running through the garden, all converging toward the palace, where the clamor momentarily grew louder-tall men in burnished cuirasses and crested helmets of polished bronze.
Before they reached it, a band of knights in burnished armor rode from among the trees, and their leader sternly ordered the travelers to halt.
She laughed and shook back her burnished locks, spread her arms sensuously.
Seven tripods never touched by fire, ten bars of gold, twenty burnished cauldrons, a dozen massive stallions, racers who earned me trophies with their speed.
Seven tripods hauled from the tents, as promised, twenty burnished cauldrons, a dozen massive stallions.
Their master leapt down from the bright burnished car, propped his whip on the yoke.
His companions sat their saddles in their burnished helmets and breastplates, watching him without expression.
Silk and lace had that effect, with country armsmen, at least, and that was what these men were no matter how brightly they had burnished their helmets and coin-armor coats.
Arafellin woman jerked her hand back, her face becoming very still behind the face-bars of her burnished conical helmet.
A pair of Guardswomen, resplendent in broad-brimmed hats with white plumes and lace-edged sashes embroidered with the White Lion slanting across their burnished breastplates and more pale lace at their cuffs and necks, stiffened on either side of the doors at her approach.
Sareitha, formal in their fringed shawls, bowed their heads slightly in respect, but Mellar swept off his plumed hat in a flourishing bow, one hand laid over the lace-edged sash slanting across his burnished breastplate.
He was plainly clad, in burnished helmet and breastplate, his gray silk coat alone marking him out from the eighty-one Saldaean lancers arrayed around the hilltop.