lacquer
or lack·er
[lak-er]
noun
a protective coating consisting of a resin, cellulose ester, or both, dissolved in a volatile solvent, sometimes with pigment added.
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.
Also called lacquer ware, lac·quer·ware. ware, especially of wood, coated with such a varnish, and often inlaid: They collected fine Japanese lacquers.
Slang. any volatile solvent that produces euphoria when inhaled.
verb (used with object)
to coat with lacquer.
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
1570–80; earlier leckar, laker < Portuguese lacre, lacar, unexplained variant of laca < Arabic lakk < Persian lâk lac1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for lacquer
Contemporary Examples of lacquer
Historical Examples of lacquer
Will there be one morsel of honest flesh, when all the lacquer of paint is washed off?
A Day's RideCharles James Lever
Do you know that he has the one collection of Japanese lacquer in Europe?
The Napoleon of Notting HillGilbert K. Chesterton
The walls are all covered with the finest paintings in gold and lacquer.
From Pole to PoleSven Anders Hedin
The dressing table and the chaise-longue are of Chinese lacquer.
The Merry-Go-RoundCarl Van Vechten
The lacquer is drawn from its milky sap and mixed with the oil of the bignonia.
In the Eastern SeasW.H.G. Kingston
lacquer
noun
verb
Word Origin for lacquer
C16: from obsolete French lacre sealing wax, from Portuguese laca lac 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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