a varnish for wood consisting of shellac dissolved in alcohol
the gloss finish produced by repeated applications of this polish
First recorded in 1810–20
First recorded in 1830–40
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Dr. Walter Damrosch started the idea, after running a wartime school in which U. S. bandmasters took a high French polish.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nothing is so good for the best class of work as polishing entirely with French polish.
From French Polishing and Enamelling A Practical Work of Instruction by Bitmead, Richard
A Parisian finishing school is for English girls like putting French polish on British oak.
From The Little Vanities of Mrs. Whittaker A Novel by Winter, John Strange
Think of our dreadful slippers! powdered with pearls and all sorts of trash of that kind, by the side of that lovely French polish.'
From Tancred Or, The New Crusade by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield
Have beside you linseed-oil in one receptacle, and some French polish in another.
From French Polishing and Enamelling A Practical Work of Instruction by Bitmead, Richard
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
