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POLISHED
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(of lumber or stone) to trim and smooth
Synonyms:
dressed; polished
Classified under:
Similar:
finished ((of materials or goods) brought to the desired final state)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Perfected or made shiny and smooth
Example:
freshly polished silver
Classified under:
Similar:
bright; burnished; lustrous; shining; shiny (made smooth and bright by or as if by rubbing; reflecting a sheen or glow)
finished ((of skills or the products of skills) brought to or having the greatest excellence; perfected)
Also:
bright (emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts)
Antonym:
unpolished (not carefully reworked or perfected or made smooth by polishing)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(of grains especially rice) having the husk or outer layers removed
Example:
polished rice
Synonyms:
milled; polished
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
processed (prepared or converted from a natural state by subjecting to a special process)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Showing a high degree of refinement and the assurance that comes from wide social experience
Example:
maintained an urbane tone in his letters
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
sophisticated (having or appealing to those having worldly knowledge and refinement and savoir-faire)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Past simple / past participle of the verb polish
Context examples:
You see, she fell on it and it lies on a polished floor with nothing to keep it in place.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Mr Elliot was rational, discreet, polished, but he was not open.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
I never mentioned his manners; but, unless I had a very bad taste, they must suit it; they are polished, calm, and gentlemanlike.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The kettle was of brass and shone like gold, so brightly was it polished.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
The floor was of polished tiles, with a square of red and black diapered Flemish carpet in the centre; and many settees, cushions, folding chairs, and carved bancals littered all over it.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A technique that quantifies the x-rays emitted after ionization by a finely focused beam of electrons directed onto a flat polished specimen.
(Electron Microprobe Analysis, NCI Thesaurus)
In front there stood a small group of Indians—little, clean-limbed, red fellows, whose skins glowed like polished bronze in the strong sunlight.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The epidemic form is found primarily in areas in which white (polished) rice is the staple food, as in Japan, China, the Philippines, India, and other countries of southeast Asia.
(Beri Beri, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)
Elinor had not needed this to be assured of the injustice to which her sister was often led in her opinion of others, by the irritable refinement of her own mind, and the too great importance placed by her on the delicacies of a strong sensibility, and the graces of a polished manner.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
He discovered in himself, at this period, a passion for perfection, under the sway of which he rewrote and polished The Jostling Street, The Wine of Life, Joy, the Sea Lyrics, and others of his earlier work.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
