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
She said I must have French masters, and more polish, but I don't like French polish.
From The Pillars of the House, V1 by Yonge, Charlotte Mary
The finest of shellac finishes is French polish.
From Handwork in Wood by Noyes, William
In dress, Mr. Waffles was the light, butterfly order of sportsman—once-round tie, French polish, paper boots, and so on.
From Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour by Surtees, Robert Smith
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)
What inventions of French-polish that refused all persuasions to dry, but continued to stick to and paint everything it came in contact with!
From Confessions Of Con Cregan An Irish Gil Blas by Lever, Charles James
None of your new, cheap, thinly-veneered, blown-together rubbish, smelling of shavings and French-polish.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, February 21, 1891 by Various
Villa at Barnsbury, permeated by strong smell of French-polish and fusty straw.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 99, November 29, 1890 by Various
The bell-lamp in the passage looked as clear as a soap-bubble; you could see yourself in all the tables, and French-polish yourself on any one of the chairs.
From Sketches by Boz, illustrative of everyday life and every-day people by Dickens, Charles
He agreed to take the old horse, the week before the races, and give him a last bit of French-polish if we'd keep him in steady work till then.
From Robbery under Arms; a story of life and adventure in the bush and in the Australian goldfields by Boldrewood, Rolf
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.
