Crossword clues for tarnish
tarnish
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Tarnish \Tar"nish\, v. i. To lose luster; to become dull; as, gilding will tarnish in a foul air.
Till thy fresh glories, which now shine so bright,
Grow stale and tarnish with our daily sight.
--Dryden.
Tarnish \Tar"nish\, n.
The quality or state of being tarnished; stain; soil; blemish.
(Min.) A thin film on the surface of a metal, usually due to a slight alteration of the original color; as, the steel tarnish in columbite.
Tarnish \Tar"nish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tarnished; p. pr. & vb. n. Tarnishing.] [F. ternir, fr. OHG. tarnen to darken, to conceal, hide; akin to OS. dernian to hide, AS. dernan, dyrnan, OHG. tarni hidden, OS. derni, AS. derne, dyrne. Cf. Dern,
-
, and see -ish.] To soil, or change the appearance of, especially by an alternation induced by the air, or by dust, or the like; to diminish, dull, or destroy the luster of; to sully; as, to tarnish a metal; to tarnish gilding; to tarnish the purity of color. ``Tarnished lace.''
--Fuller. Used also figuratively; as, to tarnish one's honor.Syn: To sully; stain; dim.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
mid-15c. (transitive), from present participle stem of Middle French ternir "dull the luster or brightness of, make dim" (15c.), probably from Old French terne (adj.) "dull, dark," which according to Diez is from a Germanic source cognate with Old High German tarnjan "to conceal, hide," Old English dyrnan "to hide, darken," from Proto-Germanic *darnjaz (see dern), but there are difficulties of form, sense, and date. Intransitive sense from 1670s. Figurative sense is from 1690s. Related: Tarnished; tarnishing.
1713, from tarnish (v.).
Wiktionary
n. oxidation or discoloration, especially of a decorative metal exposed to air. vb. 1 (context intransitive English) To oxidize or discolor due to oxidation. 2 (context transitive English) To soil, sully, damage or compromise 3 (context intransitive figurative English) To lose its lustre or attraction; to become dull.
WordNet
Wikipedia
Tarnish is a thin layer of corrosion that forms over copper, brass, silver, aluminum, magnesium and other similar metals as their outermost layer undergoes a chemical reaction. Tarnish does not always result from the sole effects of oxygen in the air. For example, silver needs hydrogen sulfide to tarnish, although it may tarnish with oxygen over time. It often appears as a dull, gray or black film or coating over metal. Tarnish is a surface phenomenon that is self-limiting, unlike rust. Only the top few layers of the metal react, and the layer of tarnish seals and protects the underlying layers from reacting.
Tarnish actually preserves the underlying metal in outdoor use, and in this form is called patina. The formation of patina is necessary in applications such as copper roofing, and outdoor copper, bronze, and brass statues and fittings. Patina is the name given to tarnish on copper based metals.
Usage examples of "tarnish".
It also prefers the savor of those who have allowed their receptor planes to tarnish with succulent trace elements, spewed up by the hot accretion disk below.
Goodman was obscure, reclusive, and almost totally unknown, when he was hired by Lester Barnstorm, a somewhat tarnished and definitely over-the-hill executive at Marathon Productions.
Should borrow body and form and hue And tower in torrents of floral flame, The crimson bougainvillea grew, What starlit brow uplifted to the same Majestic regress of the summering sky, What ultimate thing -- hushed, holy, throned as high Above the currents that tarnish and profane As silver summits are whose pure repose No curious eyes disclose Nor any footfalls stain, But round their beauty on azure evenings Only the oreads go on gauzy wings, Only the oreads troop with dance and song And airy beings in rainbow mists who throng Out of those wonderful worlds that lie afar Betwixt the outmost cloud and the nearest star.
Carina-Cygnus fade, the richly glowing colors tarnish, the Imperial panoply and pomp become worn and tattered.
That many of the tarnished were in fact blameless did not matter, because Lo Prek had uncovered a pattern that led to the flawless conclusion that an Imperial conspiracy was behind the crime wave.
Why should they risk having her princessly reputation tarnished in this short time?
Also the baronet, whose ancestors were all honourable men and stainless women, found it hard to overlook a certain royal bar-sinister, which had originated the Luxmore earldom, together with a few other blots which had tarnished that scutcheon since.
To you he was just a man who shouted and died as you reached him, but before that the Shouter possessed a long, tarnished history.
How changed, how passion-worn and tarnished was the countenance that met his eyes.
No ill had tarnished the nature of Villiers: he enjoyed life, he was in good-humour with the world, and thought well of mankind.
He had left her, and thought of her no more--except, as a passing reflection, that in the natural course of things, she was now to become the pupil of Lady , and consequently, that her unsophisticated feelings and affectionate heart would speedily be tarnished and hardened under her influence.
And if you were lucky and they were sensible, they found somewhere between impossible perfection and the Pit where they could be real coppers - slightly tarnished, because the job did that to you, but not rotten.
It was as if the bright surfaces had suddenly become tarnished and no longer reflected the light and, somehow, somewhere, there was a hint of invading rust.
It had not always been an easy task once word of her child leaked out, for she had been deemed tarnished goods.
The tarnished tiara with most of its glass diamonds missing was tangled in strands of her hair and tilted to the side of her head.