polish

Universal Words noun, verb noun 1 [U,C] a substance used when rubbing a surface to make it smooth and shiny: furniture / floor / shoe / silver polish * wax polish seealsoFRENCHPOLISH, NAILPOLISH 2 [sing.] an act of polishing sth: I give it a polish now and again. 3 [sing.] the shiny appearance of sth after it has been polished 4 [U] a high quality of performance achieved with great skill: She played the cello with the polish of a much older musician. 5 [U] high standards of behaviour; being polite: She thought that her husband's family lacked polish. IDIOMS see SPITn. verb 1 ~ sth (up) (with sth) to make sth smooth and shiny by rubbing it with a piece of fabric, often with polish on it: [VN] Polish shoes regularly to protect the leather. * He polished his glasses with a handkerchief. * She polished the apple on her sleeve. [also V] seealsoFRENCHPOLISH 2 [VN] ~ sth (up) to make changes to sth in order to improve it: The statement was carefully polished and checked before release. * The hotel has polished up its act (= improved its service) since last year. PHRASALVERBS polish sb<->off (informal, especially AmE) to kill sb polish sth<->off (informal) to finish sth, especially food, quickly: He polished off the remains of the apple pie.