- [uncountable, countable] a substance used when rubbing a surface to make it smooth and shiny
- furniture/floor/shoe/silver polish
- wax polish
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- boot
- furniture
- metal
- …
- apply
- give something
- remove
- …
Definitions on the go
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- [singular] an act of polishing something
- I give it a polish now and again.
- You’ll need to give your shoes a good polish.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- boot
- furniture
- metal
- …
- apply
- give something
- remove
- …
- [singular] the shiny appearance of something after it has been polished synonym lustre, sheen
- [uncountable] a high quality of performance achieved with great skill synonym brilliance
- She played the cello with the polish of a much older musician.
- [uncountable] high standards of behaviour; being polite synonym refinement
- She thought that her husband’s family lacked polish.
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French poliss-, lengthened stem of polir ‘to polish’, from Latin polire.
Idioms
See polish in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryspit and polish
- (informal) careful and complete cleaning and polishing of something
Check pronunciation:
polish