lacquer
or lack·er
[lak-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.
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- 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.
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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. 2018
Examples from the Web for lacquering
Historical Examples
It must be borne in mind that the lacquering was often but an afterthought decoration.
In lacquering guns care is to be taken to leave the distinguishing marks and numbers distinctly visible.
Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy.Bureau of Ordnance, USN
The latter are prepared by varnishing or lacquering the former.
It may be protected to some extent by lacquering with pale lacquer, but it loses some of its brilliancy and purity in the process.
On Laboratory ArtsRichard Threlfall
Women were employed extensively in the light chain trade, also in lacquering in the brass trade, and in many other occupations.
Women in Modern IndustryB. L. Hutchins
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
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- (tr) to apply lacquer to
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Word Origin
C16: from obsolete French lacre sealing wax, from Portuguese laca lac 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for lacquering
lacquer
n.
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).
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lacquer
v.
"cover or coat with laqueur," 1680s, from lacquer (n.). Related: Lacquered; lacquering.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper