Dictionary

garnish en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡɐːnɪʃ/ (Australia)
• [ˈɡɑɹnɪʃ] (General-American)
• /ˈɡɑːnɪʃ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• [ˈɡäːnɪʃ] (Australia)
• audio
• [ˈɡɑːnɪʃ] (Received-Pronunciation)
• [ˈɡɐ̞ːnɪʃ] (Australia)
• /ˈɡäːnɪʃ/ (Australia)
• /ˈɡɑɹnɪʃ/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Middle English garnysshen, from Old French garniss-, stem of certain forms of the verb garnir, guarnir, warnir (“to provide, furnish, avert, defend, warn, fortify, garnish”), from a conflation of Old Frankish *warnijan (“to refuse, deny”) and *warnōn (“warn, protect, prepare, beware, guard oneself”), from Proto-Germanic *warnijaną (“to worry, care, heed”) and Proto-Germanic *warnōną (“to warn”); both from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to defend, protect, cover”). Cognate with Old English wiernan (“to withhold, be sparing of, deny, refuse, reject, decline, forbid, prevent from, avert”) and warnian (“to warn, caution, take warning, take heed, guard oneself against, deny”). More at warn.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A set of dishes, often pewter, containing a dozen pieces of several types.
2. (countable, uncountable) Pewter vessels in general.
   • The accounts of collegiate and monastic institutions give abundant entries of the price of pewter vessels, called also garnish. 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 478:
3. (countable, uncountable) Something added for embellishment.
   • This hard-headed old Overreach approved of the sentimental song, as the suitable garnish for girls, and also as fundamentally fine, sentiment being the right thing for a song. 1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Book I, Chapter 12:
   • 1718, Matthew Prior, Alma: or, The Progress of the Mind, Canto 1, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: Jacob Tonson, p. 333, First Poets, all the World agrees, Write half to profit, half to please Matter and figure They produce; For Garnish This, and That for Use;
   • There had been a semblance of chivalry in the attitude from which, at the beginning of their marriage, he had briefly regarded her; but forty-seven years had efficiently disposed of that garnish of politeness. 1972, William Trevor, “The Grass Widows”, in The Collected Stories, New York: Viking, published 1992, page 228:
4. (countable, uncountable) Clothes; garments, especially when showy or decorative.
   • So are you, sweet, Even in the lovely garnish of a boy. c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi]:
5. (countable, uncountable) Something set round or upon a dish as an embellishment.
6. (countable, obsolete, slang, uncountable) Fetters.
7. (historical, slang, uncountable) A fee; specifically, in English jails, formerly an unauthorized fee demanded from a newcomer by the older prisoners.
   • 1699, B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, London: W. Hawes et al., Garnish money, what is customarily spent among the Prisoners at first coming in.
   • This person then […] acquainted him that it was the custom of the place for every prisoner, upon his first arrival there, to give something to the former prisoners to make them drink. This, he said, was what they called garnish; and concluded with advising his new customer to draw his purse upon the present occasion. 1751 December (indicated as 1752), Henry Fielding, chapter 3, in Amelia. […], volume I, London: […] [William Strahan] for A[ndrew] Millar […], →OCLC, book I, page 13:
8. (US, countable, slang, uncountable) Cash.

Forms

Coordinates

spice · condiment

Deriveds

all garnish and no meat · garnish bolt

Synonyms

decoration · ornament

Translations (42)

ota بزك (something added for embellishment) · ka გარნირი (something set round or upon a dish) · bg гарнитура (something set round or upon a dish) · hu dísz (something added for embellishment) · pt guarnição (something set round or upon a dish) · hu dekoráció (something added for embellishment) · bg украса (something added for embellishment) · mk у́крас (something added for embellishment) · hu garnírung (something set round or upon a dish) · gl gornición (something set round or upon a dish) · gl gornición (something added for embellishment) · ru украше́ние (something added for embellishment) · fr garniture (something added for embellishment) · nl garnituur (something set round or upon a dish) · ca guarnició (something set round or upon a dish) · ast guarnición (something added for embellishment) · cs obloha (something set round or upon a dish) · pt guarnição (something added for embellishment) · hu köret (something set round or upon a dish) · es guarnición (something added for embellishment) · ca guarniment (something added for embellishment) · ota سوس (something added for embellishment) · ca guarnició (something added for embellishment) · hy խավարտ (something set round or upon a dish) · mi whakapūwharu (something set round or upon a dish) · fr garniture (something set round or upon a dish) · hu ételdíszítés (something set round or upon a dish) · ru гарни́р (something set round or upon a dish) · pl garnir (something set round or upon a dish) · uk гарні́р (something set round or upon a dish) · gl guarnición (something set round or upon a dish) · pl garnirunek (something set round or upon a dish) · mk гарни́р (something set round or upon a dish) · pl garnirowanie (something set round or upon a dish) · ka მოსართავი (something added for embellishment) · hu körítés (something set round or upon a dish) · nl garnituur (something added for embellishment) · ota زینت (something added for embellishment) · hu díszítés (something added for embellishment) · ka შესამკობი (something added for embellishment) · gl guarnición (something added for embellishment) · es guarnición (something set round or upon a dish)

garnish en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡɐːnɪʃ/ (Australia)
• [ˈɡɑɹnɪʃ] (General-American)
• /ˈɡɑːnɪʃ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• [ˈɡäːnɪʃ] (Australia)
• audio
• [ˈɡɑːnɪʃ] (Received-Pronunciation)
• [ˈɡɐ̞ːnɪʃ] (Australia)
• /ˈɡäːnɪʃ/ (Australia)
• /ˈɡɑɹnɪʃ/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Middle English garnysshen, from Old French garniss-, stem of certain forms of the verb garnir, guarnir, warnir (“to provide, furnish, avert, defend, warn, fortify, garnish”), from a conflation of Old Frankish *warnijan (“to refuse, deny”) and *warnōn (“warn, protect, prepare, beware, guard oneself”), from Proto-Germanic *warnijaną (“to worry, care, heed”) and Proto-Germanic *warnōną (“to warn”); both from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to defend, protect, cover”). Cognate with Old English wiernan (“to withhold, be sparing of, deny, refuse, reject, decline, forbid, prevent from, avert”) and warnian (“to warn, caution, take warning, take heed, guard oneself against, deny”). More at warn.

Meanings

1. To decorate with ornaments; to adorn; to embellish.
   • […] the whip […] was garnished with a massive horse’s head of plated metal. 1848, Anne Brontë, chapter 14, in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall:
   • 1710, Joseph Addison, The Tatler, No. 163, 25 April, 1710, Glasgow: Robert Urie, 1754, p. 165, […] as that admirable writer has the best and worst verses of any among our English poets, Ned Softly has got all the bad ones without book, which he repeats upon occasion, to shew his reading, and garnish his conversation.
   • And all within with flowres was garnished, 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 253:
2. To ornament with something placed around it.
   • a dish garnished with a sprig/spray of parsley
3. (archaic) To furnish; to supply.
   • By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 26:13:
   • […] the good-humoured, affectionate-hearted Godfrey Cass was fast becoming a bitter man, visited by cruel wishes, that seemed to enter, and depart, and enter again, like demons who had found in him a ready-garnished home. 1861, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter III, in Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:
4. (archaic, slang) To fit with fetters; to fetter.
5. To warn by garnishment; to give notice to.
6. To have (money) set aside by court order (particularly for the payment of alleged debts); to garnishee.
   • When the editorial board of Fire met again, we did not plan a new issue, but emptied our pockets to help poor Thurman whose wages were being garnished weekly because he had signed for the printer’s bills. 1966, Langston Hughes, “The Twenties: Harlem and Its Negritude”, in Christopher C. De Santis, editor, The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, volume 9, page 473:

Forms

Deriveds

garnisher · garnishment · garnishable · disgarnish · garnishee · ungarnish · regarnish · garnishor · garnishry

Relateds

garniture · garnison · garment

Translations (73)

ast guarnir (to ornament (food)) · ka უზრუნველყოფა (to furnish; to supply) · gl gornecer (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · mk гарни́ра (to ornament (food)) · fi koristella (to ornament (food)) · scn adurnari (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · pt fornecer (to furnish; to supply) · is skreyta (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · it abbellire (to ornament (food)) · ga maisigh (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · de verzieren (to ornament (food)) · ru снабжа́ть (to furnish; to supply) · ar زَيَّن (to ornament (food)) · mk у́краси (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · scn dicurari (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · ru украша́ть (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · hu körít (to ornament (food)) · pt abastecer (to furnish; to supply) · pl udekorować (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · gl gornecer (to ornament (food)) · pl dekorować (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · sv garnera (to ornament (food)) · pl garnirować (to ornament (food)) · it ornare (to ornament (food)) · pl ozdabiać (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · pt suprir (to furnish; to supply) · nl garneren (to ornament (food)) · it fornire (to furnish; to supply) · bg гарнирам (to ornament (food)) · ru снабди́ть (to furnish; to supply) · ca guarnir (to ornament (food)) · es guarnecer (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · mi whakarākei (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · mi whakarākai (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · ru гарни́ровать (to ornament (food)) · fi koristella (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · ka მორთვა (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · ca guarnir (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · mi whakapūwharu (to ornament (food)) · mk сна́бди (to furnish; to supply) · pt guarnecer (to ornament (food)) · de garnieren (to ornament (food)) · ka მორთვა (to ornament (food)) · ka მიწოდება (to furnish; to supply) · es guarnecer (to ornament (food)) · bg украсявам (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · it adornare (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · hu ékesít (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · nl garneren (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · ast guarnecer (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · hu díszít (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · gl guarnecer (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · ar زَيَّن (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · es guarnecer (to furnish; to supply) · gl guarnecer (to ornament (food)) · pt ornar (to ornament (food)) · scn cunzari (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · ar زَخْرَف (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · pt guarnecer (to furnish; to supply) · pl ozdobić (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · ast guarnir (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · ka შემკობა (to ornament (food)) · it guarnire (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · it decorare (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · ru укра́сить (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · pt ornamentar (to ornament (food)) · cs ozdobit (to ornament (food)) · pt guarnecer (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · ka შემკობა (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · cs ozdobit (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · ast guarnecer (to ornament (food)) · de verzieren (to decorate with ornamental appendages) · enm garnyssh (to decorate with ornamental appendages)