lacquer
or lack·er
- 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.
- 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
Examples from the Web for lacquer
Contemporary Examples of lacquer
The lacquer cures for 72 hours, and then is sanded by hand to buff out any imperfections.
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
- a hard glossy coating made by dissolving cellulose derivatives or natural resins in a volatile solvent
- a black resinous substance, obtained from certain trees, used to give a hard glossy finish to wooden furniture
- 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
- Also called: hair lacquer a mixture of shellac and alcohol for spraying onto the hair to hold a style in place
- art decorative objects coated with such lacquer, often inlaid
- (tr) to apply lacquer to
Word Origin for lacquer
Word Origin and History for lacquer
1570s as "dye obtained from lac;" 1670s as "lacquer," from obsolete French lacre, name for a kind of sealing wax, from Portuguese lacre, unexplained variant of lacca "resinous substance," from Arabic lakk, from Persian lak (see lac).
"cover or coat with laqueur," 1680s, from lacquer (n.). Related: Lacquered; lacquering.