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
It's not French polish, but I haven't seen varnish as good as this.
From Blake's Burden by Bindloss, Harold
Wax is an old English polish, commonly used before French polish and varnish were introduced, especially for hard woods like oak.
From Handwork in Wood by Noyes, William
Truly the old Edinburgh Assembly Rooms had their secrets, and contained exciting enough elements under their formal French polish.
From Girlhood and Womanhood The Story of some Fortunes and Misfortunes by Tytler, Sarah
The young, patient, retreating wife was changed at once into an irritated lioness, and, amid the refinements of the French polish, with all its gilded accompaniments, uprose the glowing, impassioned, threatening creole.
From Empress Josephine An historical sketch of the days of Napoleon by Mühlbach, L. (Luise)
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.
