Forms: α. 4 vernisshe, 4, 6 vernysshe, 5 -nyshe, -nysche, -nesche; 4 vernisch, 5 vernysh (wernysch), 6–8 vernish; 4, 7 vernich; 6 vernize, Sc. verneis, vernes, vernys, 7 vernis, -nice. β. 6 varnysch, 6– varnish (7 -nishe); 6 Sc. varneyis, 7 varnes. [ad. OF. vernis (varnis), verniz (12th c.), = Prov. vernis, -nitz, Pg. verniz, It. vernice, Cat. barnis, Sp. barniz, of unknown origin. Cf. med.L. vernicium and vernix (bernix), med.Gr. βερνίκη, mod.Gr. βερνίκι. French is also the source of MHG. firnîs, G. firnis(s, Du. vernis, Da. fernis, Sw. fernissa.]
1. Resinous matter dissolved in some liquid and used for spreading over a surface in order to give this a hard, shining, transparent coat, by which it is made more durable or ornamental.
In early use, dry resinous matter for making a solution of this kind.
α. 1341–2. Ely Sacr. Rolls, II. 121. In vj libr. de albo vernich, prec. lbr. iijd.
1358. in Pipe Roll 32 Edw. III., m. 34/1 b. In .iiij. Mill’ de vernisshe; .v. lb de vermeillone.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. V. 70. Venim or vernisch or vinegre, I trouwe, Walleþ in my wombe.
14[?]. in Reliq. Ant., I. 163. For to make wernysch.—Take a galon of good ale, and put thereto iij ounces of gumme of Arabyke [etc.].
1466. Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.), 349. My mastyr receyvid of Fynches man of Colchestre a li. of vernyshe, pryse .vj.d.
1501. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., II. 64. For iij vnce quhit vernys. Ibid. (1507), IV. 90. Caddes, verneis, rede lede.
1530. Palsgr., 284/2. Vernysshe, uernys.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., III. xv. 99 b. They vse by continuall artifice Terebinthe and vernish.
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, 135. Aqua vitæ, liquid vernize, arsenike.
1633. Hart, Diet of Diseased, I. xvii. 69. The oile of walnuts is … used … by painters for vernice.
1638. Junius, Paint. Ancients, 285. Apelles … did by an inimitable invention anoint his finished workes with … a thinne kinde of inke or vernish.
1658. trans. Porta’s Nat. Magic, XVI. 341. Powder Iuniper-gum, which Scriveners call Vernish, and add it to the rest.
1706. Stevens, Span. Dict., I. Barniz, Vernish.
β. 1546. Inv. Ch. Goods Surrey, 106. Item for ij lb. of varnysch, ij s. viij d.
1620. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 244. Three pound of varnishe for the caroache, xxjd.
1658. Phillips, Varnish, is that wherewith a picture is rubbed over to make it shine and have a glosse; there is also a ground or varnish which is laid upon a plate that is to be etched.
1725. Fam. Dict., s.v. Wounds, Let him drop some Varnish with a Feather to the bottom.
1773. Cook’s Voy. (1777), II. III. xi. 146. As we had neither pitch, tar, nor rosin, left to pay the seams, this was done with varnish of pine.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 86. As wood, and many other substances … are porous and apt to imbibe water,… it is proper to give them a coat of varnish.
1842. Lever, J. Hinton, x. Like the varnish upon a picture, it brings out all the colour into strong effect.
1894. Bottone, Elect. Instr., 60. When the sectors are firmly stuck down to the glass, and the varnish quite dry.
transf. 1784. Cowper, Task, I. 40. Now came the cane from India, smooth and bright With Nature’s varnish.
b. With a and pl. A special preparation of this nature.
Many varieties are enumerated in special works from Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl. (1753), onwards.
α. 1667. Phil. Trans., II. 417. How, in China and Japan, they make the Black-vernish. Ibid., 487. This Author mentions … their [sc. Chinese] Vernice, of which he sets down some Receipts both for the Red and Black. Ibid. (1676), XI. 714. An Oyl, of which the Persians make a Vernis.
β. 1692. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), II. 420. A pattent is past for the invention of a varnish to preserve guns, &c. from rust.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v., The Varnishes used by the Chinese are two.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VIII. 24. It is only formed by a beautiful brown varnish, laid upon a white ground.
1838. T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 538. Dragon’s blood … is used also to give a red colour to varnishes.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 235. In using the varnishes … care must be taken not to apply too great a quantity of them to the surface of the colico.
c. A solution of this kind spread on a surface; the coating or surface so formed.
1643. Plain English, 13. Posts whose varnish is … worne off.
1662. Evelyn, Chalcogr., 9. Not much unlike to our Etching with points and Needles on the Vernish.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 33/1. Lime … for plaistering … gives the best varnish to the Work.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. ii. All things were in a state of high varnish and polish.
1871. Tyndall, Fragm. Sci., ix. 240. When it was found that all chemical precipitates radiated alike, it was the radiation from a varnish common to them all which showed the observed constancy.
transf. 1715. Pope, Ep. Addison, 37. This the blue varnish, that the green endears, The sacred rust of twice ten hundred years!
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, iii. By encrusting them with a black varnish of soot.
1838. Emerson, Addr., Literary Ethics, Wks. (Bohn), II. 207. The sense of spiritual independence is like the lovely varnish of the dew.
fig. 1835. Lytton, Rienzi, IV. iii. The varnish of power brings forth at once the defects and the beauties of the human portrait.
1860. Emerson, Cond. Life, Behavior, Wks. (Bohn), II. 380. They [manners] form at last a rich varnish, with which the routine of life is washed.
1884. Pall Mall G., 29 Feb., 1/2. There is a film of Levantine varnish around the court at Constantinople.
d. A preparation of boiled oil (or other substances) used in the making of printers’ ink.
1807. T. Thomson, Chem. (ed. 3), II. 445. The oil is … boiled gently till it acquires the proper consistence. In this state it is called the varnish.
1841. T. C. Hansard, Printing & Type-f., 106. The next … article is nut or linseed oil boiled and burnt into a varnish.
e. A medical preparation resembling a varnish, for application to the skin.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 582. Both tar and pyrogallol work better as paints and varnishes than the chrysarobin.
2. fig. A specious gloss or outward show; a pretence.
1565. Jewel, Reply Harding (1611), 438. This of late yeeres was the Schoole-doctours Catholike meaning,… which now M. Harding and his Fellowes are faine for shame, to colour ouer with some finer Vernish.
1617. Hieron, Wks., II. 362. God will not be dallyed with; this outward varnish cannot bleare His eyes.
1647. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., I. xliv. (1739), 71. For the better varnish, the Duke would not be his own Judge.
1765. Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury (1870), I. 163. It is impossible to get the least certain intelligence from thence, as nothing comes out of the closet but with a double varnish.
1782. V. Knox, Ess., lvii. (1819), II. 1. Qualities, which, when seen in their true light, and without the varnish of deceit, are peculiarly unpleasing.
1843. Prescott, Mexico (1850), I. 285. The affectation of legal forms afforded him a thin varnish for his proceedings.
1844. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., I. 291. Women will … always give a varnish of duty to their inclinations.
1895. C. Graham, Notes Menteith, i. 7. Convention has lent a thin varnish of hypocrisy to manners.
b. Without article.
1743. Lond. Mag., 346. The authentick Gazette, which … never once dealt in Puff or Varnish, but told the Truth.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, VII. xv. From the clerk of the kitchen I required the buttery accounts without varnish or concealment.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Plato, Wks. (Bohn), I. 308. This eldest Goethe, hating varnish and falsehood, delighted in revealing the real at the base of the accidental.
3. A means of embellishment or adornment; a beautifying or improving quality or feature.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. ii. 1150. Though … Divinity, For only varnish, have but Verity.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, Wks. (Grosart), V. 233. I might enamell … this deuice more artificially and masterly, and attire it in his true orient varnish and tincture.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. 27. My intent is without varnish or amplification, iustly to weigh the dignitie of knowledge in the ballance with other things.
1671. Panton, Spec. Juv., Ded. Though it have not the Romantick varnish of stile, worthy your Majestie’s view and regard.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 364, ¶ 1. This last Qualification … serves as a Varnish to all the rest.
1727. S. Switzer, Pract. Gard., lxxviii. 392. Neatness and politure ought now … to serve for a varnish to the alleys and the dress’d grounds.
1863. Hawthorne, Our Old Home (1883), I. 246. A cloudy and rainy day takes the varnish off the scenery.
b. Gloss, brilliancy.
1841. T. C. Hansard, Printing & Type-f., 107. The turpentine is added to give greater varnish [to the ink].
4. An external appearance or display of some quality without underlying reality. (Cf. VENEER sb.)
1662. Stillingfl., Orig. Sacræ, II. ii. § 8. He lived long enough to have … judgement to distinguish a meer outside and varnish, from what was solid and substantial.
1776. Gibbon, Lett. Holroyd, 20 May. I … laugh at her Paris varnish, and oblige her to become a simple reasonable Suissesse.
1778. Mme. D’Arblay, Diary, 23 Aug. Such a fine varnish of low politeness!—such a struggle to appear a gentleman!
1840. Thirlwall, Greece, lv. VII. 113. New forms … destitute of life and reality, an empty varnish.
1853. Merivale, Rom. Rep., iv. (1867), 100. But this varnish of superior culture seems to have failed in softening a rough plebeian nature.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Org., iv. 65. The youth comes up with a varnish of accomplishment beyond his real powers.
5. attrib. and Comb., as varnish brush, gum, -house, -maker, pot, -secretor; varnish sumach, the Japanese tree Rhus vernicifera from which lacquer is obtained; varnish-tree, one or other of various trees yielding a resinous substance used as a varnish.
1859. F. S. Cooper, Ironmongers’ Catal., 38. *Varnish Brushes.
1892. Daily News, 13 Feb., 7/3. Cinchona … bark sold well, but *varnish gums generally eased off.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1269. Crystal varnish may be made … in the *varnish-house.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Supp., Spike,… an essential oil, much used by the *varnish-makers and the painters in enamel.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1267. The choice of linseed oil is of peculiar consequence to the varnish-maker.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 739. Put the copal, coarsely pulverized, into a *varnish pot.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., IV. xli. 126. *Varnish-secretor (Colleterium)…. In the cabbage butterfly there is a pair of ovate ones [sc. oviduct vessels],… filled with a yellow fluid, which Reaumur and Herold think is used for varnishing or gumming the eggs.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), IV. 685. I mean several of the acrid poisons, as … rhus vernix, *varnish sumach.
1758. Phil. Trans., L. 453. He says, speaking of this true *varnish-tree, that callicuts are painted with the juice of this shrub. Ibid., 448. I suppose he means, by this true varnish-tree, the Carolina pennated Toxicodendron.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVI. 147/2. The theetsee, or varnish-tree of the Burmese, has been described and figured by Dr. Wallich, by the name of Melanorrhœa usitata. He identified it with the Kheu, or varnish-tree of Munnipore.
1866. Treas. Bot., 443/1. The natives speak of the tree producing this resin, E[læagia] utilis, as the Wax tree or Varnish tree. Ibid., 1204/2.
