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• n  the property of being smooth and shiny
• v  polish and make shiny

• In an effort to please her mother, Natalie has burnished all of the silverware before tonight’s big dinner.
• After the serious of scandals, the party's image was in need of serious burnishing.
• It is always an old and nondescript lamp that brings out the obedient genie not a shiny, burnished one.

• polish
• gloss
• glossiness
• buff
• furbish

News & Articles

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• Petitioners Challenge Obama to 'Live, Public Debate With Edward Snowden'
  Another battle in the fight to burnish the whistle-blower's image        
  June 10, 2013 - The Atlantic
• Pork Chops With a Lusty Neapolitan Topping
  The muscular sear and smoky, crisp burnish of grilled food has immense appeal when accompanying a sturdy aglianico.
  June 6, 2013 - New York Times
• Bruce Rauner Announces Gubernatorial Run
  Venture capitalist and businessman Bruce Rauner formally announced his candidacy for Illinois governor with a dry and inoffensive three-minute video where he blasted state government as broken and worked to burnish his credentials as a man of the people. [ more › ]
  June 5, 2013 - Chicagoist

Quotes

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• John Kerry in International Herald Tribune
  He must be trying to burnish his credentials for the nomination process,said Kerry, who labeled McCain's comments "flat politics and incorrect."
• Desmond Tutu in The Guardian
  Desmond Tutu, the former archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel peace prize winner, said Unesco "is allowing itself to burnish the unsavoury reputation of a dictator" and that the money Obiang pledged for the prize in order to glorify himself was...
• Rush Limbaugh in Boston Globe
  Displaying a lack of sensitivity surprising even for him, Limbaugh said the quake plays "right into Obama's hands - humanitarian, compassionate. They'll use this to burnish, shall we say, credibility with the black community, the both light-skinned...