spit and polish

American  

noun

1. great care in maintaining smart appearance and crisp efficiency.

   The commander was concerned more with spit and polish than with the company's morale.

---

spit and polish British  

noun

1. informal punctilious attention to neatness, discipline, etc, esp in the armed forces

---

spit and polish Idioms  

1. Close attention to appearance and order, as in With a little spit and polish this house will sell very quickly. This expression originated in the military, presumably alluding to literally shining up something with the aid of a little saliva. There it also came to mean “too much attention to appearance, and not enough to more important concerns,” as in The commander is so concerned with spit and polish that he overlooks the crew's morale. [Late 1800s]

---

Other Word Forms

• spit-and-polish adjective

Example Sentences

The filmmaker David Lowery has opted to update it with his own pixie dust: save what’s good, scuttle the rest, and add plenty of spit and polish for a 21st-century shine.

From New York Times

“I was kind of spit and polish at the time,” he said.

From Washington Times

The moment we walked out of the classroom, his cocksure veneer, the spit and polish, would return.

From Literature

He knew about the spit and polish, and exhausting hours of practice needed to pull off a 10-minute halftime show.

From Washington Times

Moving back to the photos, however, it must be stressed that the usual caveats remain: early prototypes can vary from the finished product and tend to have a lot less spit and polish.

From Forbes