All 16 Uses of
burnish
in
The Odyssey
- Once in the high-roofed hall, he took her lance
and fixed it firm in a burnished rack against
a sturdy pillar, there where row on row of spears,
embattled Odysseus' spears, stood stacked and waiting.†p. 81.8 *burnished = polished and made shiny; or improved something
- Once they'd feasted their eyes with gazing at it all,
into the burnished tubs they climbed and bathed.†p. 126.2
- Then I'll give you a princely send-off—shining gifts,
three stallions and a chariot burnished bright—
and I'll add a gorgeous cup so you can pour
libations out to the deathless gods on high
and remember Menelaus all your days.†p. 143.3
- Hearing that,
Alcinous, poised in all his majesty, took the hand
of the seasoned, worldly-wise Odysseus, raised him up
from the hearth and sat him down in a burnished chair,
displacing his own son, the courtly Lord Laodamas
who had sat beside him, the son he loved the most.†p. 185.2
- Aeolus stowed the sack inside my holds, lashed so fast
with a burnished silver cord
not even a slight puff could slip past that knot.†p. 231.3
- No man on earth could scale it, mount its crest,
not even with twenty hands and twenty feet for climbing,
the rock's so smooth, like dressed and burnished stone.†p. 274.1
- They rose at once, returned to Odysseus' palace,
entered and took their seats on burnished chairs.†p. 351.4
- Their plans made, he led the wayworn stranger home
and once they reached the well-constructed palace,
spreading out their cloaks on a chair or bench,
into the burnished tubs they climbed and bathed.†p. 357.3
- The old woman took up a burnished basin
she used for washing feet and poured in bowls
of fresh cold water before she stirred in hot.†p. 402.9
- All those tables,
sponge them down—scour the winebowls, burnished cups!†p. 415.5
- Reaching, tiptoe, lifting the bow down off its peg,
still secure in the burnished case that held it,
down she sank, laying the case across her knees,
and dissolved in tears with a high thin wail
as she drew her husband's weapon from its sheath ...
Then, having wept and sobbed to her heart's content,
off she went to the hall to meet her proud admirers,
cradling her husband's backsprung bow in her arms,
its quiver bristling arrows, shafts of pain.†p. 426.3
- And even as they conspired, back the goatherd
climbed to the room to fetch more burnished arms,
but Eumaeus spotted him, quickly told his king
who stood close by: "Odysseus, wily captain,
there he goes again, the infernal nuisance—
just as we suspected—back to the storeroom.†p. 444.6
- He strapped his burnished armor round his shoulders,
roused Telemachus, the cowherd and the swineherd,
and told them to take up weapons honed for battle.†p. 467.7
- But once the will of thundering Zeus had roused his blood,
he and Telemachus bore the burnished weapons off
and stowed them deep in a storeroom, shot the bolts
and he—the soul of cunning—told his wife to set
the great bow and the gleaming iron axes out
before the suitors—all of us doomed now—
to test our skill and bring our slaughter on ...
Not one of us had the strength to string that powerful weapon,
all of us fell far short of what it took.†p. 473.6
- They ran for armor
and once they'd harnessed up in burnished bronze
they grouped in ranks before the terraced city.†p. 482.9
- Once they had all harnessed up in burnished bronze
they opened the doors and strode out, Odysseus in the lead.†p. 484.1
Definitions:
-
(1)
(burnish) to polish, especially to make metal shiny; or more generally, to improve or enhance something’s appearance or reputation
-
(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.