Here - Norm's Book Club

VARNISHED. 56 VABVICITE.
Dys&hed his heed, Ful pale he was, for-dronken, and nat
reed. £'1430 Lvdg. Afin. Potms (Percy Soc.) 53 Ful pale
dninke, weel vcin>"ssht of visage. Ihid. 54 And whan thou
hast ueel \'em>-ssht thi pate, To take a sleepe in hast thou
woU the dresse. 1589 Gkeene Tulites Love Wks. (Grosarl)
VII. H7, 1 found him in his bed chamber, his wife slaine
And the blade yet varnished with bloud, graiiped in his fist.
a 16x8 SvLVFsrF.R SptctacUs xx.\iii. Wks. (Grosart) II. 300
The Leaves fresh \*amisht lively green, The Blossoms various
to be seen. 1664 Power Rxp. Fhilos. i. 11 Her eyes are..
of a pure golden colour, most admirable to behold, especially
when varnish 'd with a full light, a 1733 Ramsay Tartana
J7 Vou who. .Drain from the flow'rs the early dews of May,
To\'amisii on your cheek the crimson dye. 1841 Maunder
Scuff Lit. Trtas. 11848) s.v. Scarahxns, The colour (of the
Scan$itrus auraivs] is most brilliant, highly varnished, and
of a golden green. 1865 Dickens A/u/. Fr. i. x, Next
moriung, that horrible old I^dy Tippins begins to be dyed
and vamtsbed for the interesting Decision.
2. To embellish or adorn; to improve, trick ont,
furbish 1//.
X4. . Sir BfMts (MS. C.) 3777 Blak sendel and . .rede, Vern)-sched
wi|» ros>*s oflT sylu>T bry^t. 1580 Lylv Euphues
(Arb.) 450 The Elizabeth of Euphues being but shadowed
for others to vemish, but begun for others to ende. 1589
Nashe Martin Marprelate Wks. (Grosart) I. 189 All my
foolerie I bequeath to my good friend Lanam ;. .it. .may
serue (perhappes) for yong beginners, if it be newe varnished.
1639 G. Daniel Vervic 720 My Name, which stood The
Boast of Fame, I N-arnish't with my Blood. 1699 Bentlf.y
PhaL 162 To dress up and to v.arnish the Story of Pausanias.
01715 Burnet dfM Time (1766) U. 154 Which were set off
with all the fulsome Rhetorick that the penners could varnish
them with. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Jonrn. France II. 374 [Here
is] old Franck's Seven Acts of Mercy varnished up. 1887
Huxley in Z.iy&(i9oo) II. 154 It will go on and be varnished
into a simulacrum of success,
3. To cover or overlay with a specious or decep-
tive appearance ; to gloss over, disguise.
1571 GoLDiNG Cah'in on Ps. iv. 3 Though they be wylfully
blind & vernish their unryghtuou^nesse with counterfet
colours. 1597 Hooker EccL Pol. v. Ixv. § 15 The church of
Rome hath hitherto practised and doth profess the same
adoration to the sign of the cross,.. howsoeuer they varnish
and qualifie their sentence. 1641 Milton Reform, Wks.
1851 III. II But what doe wee suffer., Prelatisme, as we do,
thus to blanch and varnish her deformities with the faire
colours .. of Episcopacie ? 1649 Drumm. of Hawth. Skianmchia
Wks. {1711) 198 Wicked Counsels maybe varnished
with the shining Oil of sly Pretences." 1713 Addison Cato w.
ii, Cato's voice was ne'er employed To clear the guilty, and
to vernish crimes. 1783 Blair^4?Axxv. (1812) II, 160 The
art of \*arnishing weak arguments plausibly. 183^ Woman
II. 241 The female character of this day is varnished, not
polished. 1863 Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char, xx. 520 He
does not varnL'ih—he does not even polish vice, 1874 L.
Stephen Hours in Library {iZg2) I. iii. 134 A corrupt heart
thinly varnished by a coating of affectation.
4. With over (in senses 2 and 3).
164X Milton Ch. Givt. ii. Wks. 1851 III. 103 God. .never
intended to leave the Government, .to be patch 't afterwards,
and varnish't over with the devices.. of mans imagination.
1643 Denhajh Cooper's H. 125 And yet this Act, to varnish
o'r the shame Of Sacriledge, must bear Devotions Name.
. 1694 Addison England's Greatest Poets Misc. Wks. 1726 I.
38 Or had the Poet ne'er profan'd his pen, To vernish o'er
the guilt of faithless men. 1719 Young Susiris in. i, O,
how can you abuse your sacred reason,., To varnish o'er, and
paint, so black acrime ! ? 1773 Macpherson OssiatCs Poems,
Dissert, Concern. /Era o/Ossian (1785) II. 227 When they
\sc. poets) found their themes inadequate to the warmth of
their imaginations, they varnished them over with fables.
1824 SvD. S.MITH Wks. (1867) II. 1^3 He may hide it by
increased zeal and violence, or varnish it over by simulated
gaiety. 1871 R, H. Hutton Theol. Ess. iii, (1888) 49 To
varnbb over these distinctions.
Hence Va-rnishln^ ///. a.
1796 Mod. Gulliver 203 The mischiefs flowing from my
fallacious v.irnishing pamphlet were not thought of,
Vamislied (va-jnijt), ppL a. [f. prec]
1. Coated with varnish ; f painted.
1553 Ace. Ld. H. Treas. Scot. X. 176 Ane pair of warnist
styrrcp irnis. 1596 Shaks. Merck. K. 11. v. 33 Nor thrust
your head.. To gaze on Christian fooles with varnisht
faces. X599 Minsheu S^an. Dial. 3/2 What rapier?..
None but that vamist rapier, least it should raine. 1671
BovLR Use/. Exp. Nat. Philos. 11. v. 29, I am credibly inform'd,
that the Art of making the like Varnish'd Wares, is
now begun to be a Trade at Paris. 1755 Diet. Arts