lacquer
Americannoun
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a protective coating consisting of a resin, cellulose ester, or both, dissolved in a volatile solvent, sometimes with pigment added.
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any of various resinous varnishes, especially a resinous varnish obtained from a Japanese tree, Rhus verniciflua, used to produce a highly polished, lustrous surface on wood or the like.
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Also called lacquerware. Also called lacquer ware,. ware, especially of wood, coated with such a varnish, and often inlaid.
They collected fine Japanese lacquers.
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Slang. any volatile solvent that produces euphoria when inhaled.
verb (used with object)
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to coat with lacquer.
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to cover, as with facile or fluent words or explanations cleverly worded, etc.; obscure the faults of; gloss (often followed byover ).
The speech tended to lacquer over the terrible conditions.
noun
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a hard glossy coating made by dissolving cellulose derivatives or natural resins in a volatile solvent
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a black resinous substance, obtained from certain trees, used to give a hard glossy finish to wooden furniture
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Also called: varnish tree. an E Asian anacardiaceous tree, Rhus verniciflua, whose stem yields a toxic exudation from which black lacquer is obtained
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Also called: hair lacquer. a mixture of shellac and alcohol for spraying onto the hair to hold a style in place
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art decorative objects coated with such lacquer, often inlaid
verb
Other Word Forms
- lacquerer noun
- relacquer verb (used with object)
- unlacquered adjective
Etymology
Origin of lacquer
1570–80; earlier leckar, laker < Portuguese lacre, lacar, unexplained variant of laca < Arabic lakk < Persian lâk lac 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The barrels -- bound tightly with rope, their fabric skins stiffened and darkened with lacquer -- inevitably recall the Gulf's vast hydrocarbon wealth.
From Barron's
For the dining room walls, eight Parisian artisans were flown in for months to achieve a Japanese-inspired lacquer finish.
Ms. Kondo illustrates mottainai through art forms that evolved from the spirit of preservation—including kintsugi, or the painstaking process of repairing broken pottery with a combination of lacquer and gold.
She’s offset the building’s cement with a childhood baby grand piano and her grandmother’s lacquer vanity with pearl inlay.
From Los Angeles Times
We love this lacquered green dial with diamond hour-markers and a Moonshine gold band, but there are many unique pairings to choose from.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
