lacquer

or lack·er

[ lak-er ]
See synonyms for: lacquerlacqueredlacquering on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a protective coating consisting of a resin, cellulose ester, or both, dissolved in a volatile solvent, sometimes with pigment added.

  2. any of various resinous varnishes, especially a resinous varnish obtained from a Japanese tree, Rhus verniciflua, used to produce a highly polished, lustrous surface on wood or the like.

  1. Also called lacquer ware, lac·quer·ware . ware, especially of wood, coated with such a varnish, and often inlaid: They collected fine Japanese lacquers.

  2. Slang. any volatile solvent that produces euphoria when inhaled.

verb (used with object)
  1. to coat with lacquer.

  2. to cover, as with facile or fluent words or explanations cleverly worded, etc.; obscure the faults of; gloss (often followed by over): The speech tended to lacquer over the terrible conditions.

Origin of lacquer

1
1570–80; earlier leckar, laker<Portuguese lacre, lacar, unexplained variant of laca<Arabic lakk<Persian lâklac1

Other words from lacquer

  • lac·quer·er, noun
  • re·lac·quer, verb (used with object)
  • un·lac·quered, adjective

Words Nearby lacquer

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use lacquer in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for lacquer

lacquer

/ (ˈlækə) /


noun
  1. a hard glossy coating made by dissolving cellulose derivatives or natural resins in a volatile solvent

  2. a black resinous substance, obtained from certain trees, used to give a hard glossy finish to wooden furniture

  1. lacquer tree Also called: varnish tree an E Asian anacardiaceous tree, Rhus verniciflua, whose stem yields a toxic exudation from which black lacquer is obtained

  2. Also called: hair lacquer a mixture of shellac and alcohol for spraying onto the hair to hold a style in place

  3. art decorative objects coated with such lacquer, often inlaid

verb
  1. (tr) to apply lacquer to

Origin of lacquer

1
C16: from obsolete French lacre sealing wax, from Portuguese laca lac 1

Derived forms of lacquer

  • lacquerer, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012