Both Uses of
burnish
in
Moby Dick
- Yet, in saying this, I do but indirectly burnish a little brighter the noble merit of the poem and the poet.†
Chpt 40-42 *burnish = polish and make shiny; or to improve something
- But one transparent blue morning, when a stillness almost preternatural spread over the sea, however unattended with any stagnant calm; when the long burnished sun-glade on the waters seemed a golden finger laid across them, enjoining some secrecy; when the slippered waves whispered together as they softly ran on; in this profound hush of the visible sphere a strange spectre was seen by Daggoo from the main-mast-head.†
Chpt 58-60burnished = polished and made shiny; or improved something
Definitions:
-
(1)
(burnish) polish and make shiny -- especially metal
or more generally: to improve something -- especially the impression that something makes -
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
As a noun, something that is burnished is something that was rubbed to make it shiny.