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
The Polish Used.—The oil or wax polish was used for all kinds of furniture before the introduction of French polish, the invention of which, as its name implies, is due to French cabinet-makers.
From French Polishing and Enamelling A Practical Work of Instruction by Bitmead, Richard
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
Too much care cannot be taken over the preparation of the varnish; French polish, or carelessly made shellac varnish, is likely to do more harm than good.
From On Laboratory Arts by Threlfall, Richard
The Norman wherever he went brought little that was new; he was but a Norseman—a Viking—with a French polish.
From Mediæval Wales Chiefly in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries: Six Popular Lectures by Little, A. G. (Andrew George)
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.
