varnish

English

Etymology

From Middle English vernisch, 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)

A type of paint with a solvent that evaporates to leave a hard, transparent, glossy film.
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 1069526323:
  the varnish of the holly and ivy
(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 606515358, [Act IV, scene vii]:
  And set a double varnish on the fame / The Frenchman gave you.
(rail transport, US, informal, dated) a passenger train, probably derived from the varnished passenger cars used at one time.
- 1959, "Steam's Finest Hour" edited by David P. Morgan, 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.

Related terms

desert varnish
nail varnish
rock varnish
varnishless
varnishlike
varnish tree
varnishy

Translations

transparent paint

Albanian: llak (sq) m
Arabic: وَرْنِيش‎ m (warnīš)
Armenian: լաք (hy) (lakʿ)
Azerbaijani: lak
Belarusian: лак m (lak)
Bengali: বার্নিশ (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
Irish: vearnais f
Italian: copale m, vernice (it) f, verniciatura (it) f, lacca (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
Norwegian:
Bokmål: ferniss (no) m, lakk (no) m
Nynorsk: ferniss m, lakk m
Ottoman Turkish: ورنیك‎ (vernik)
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
Tagalog: barnis, alyamas
Tajik: лак (lak)
Thai: น้ำมันชักเงา
Turkish: vernik (tr)
Turkmen: lak
Ukrainian: лак m (lak)
Uzbek: lak (uz)
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

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)

(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.
- 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
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, fényez (hu)
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, fényez (hu)
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, kozmetikáz
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)

varnish

Synonyms

lossanagh

Derived terms

varnish ingney (“nail varnish”)