Burnishing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of polishing a material's surface to increase its shine and smoothness ; the process of improving someone's reputation or public image through effort or influence
2. Smoothing and shining a surface by rubbing it thoroughly ; enhancing or refining how someone or something is perceived by others
3. Making a material bright and glossy by frictional polishing ; actively working to boost or elevate a person's or thing's standing or appearance

Etymology: The verb "burnish" has nothing to do with fire. Despite its spelling, it is unrelated to "burn." It comes from Old French "burnir," a variant of "brunir," meaning "to make clean and shiny" but also "to make brown." Both senses trace back to a Frankish verb meaning "to polish, make resplendent," which descends from a Proto-Germanic word for "brown." The shared thread is that polished metal and brownish colours were once tied together in the Germanic imagination. English borrowed the verb in the Middle Ages as "burnishen" and "burnysshen," and its early uses ranged from polishing metal to brightening a person's reputation or lustre in a figurative sense, a shift that already points toward the modern extended meaning of refining how someone is perceived.

Synonyms: polishing, shining, smoothing, buffing, refining

Antonyms: dulling, roughening, scratching, damaging, marred