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Webster 1913 Edition

Garnish

Gar′nish

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Garnished
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Garnishing
.]
[OE.
garnischen
,
garnissen
, OF.
garnir
to provide, strengthen, prepare, garnish, warn, F.
garnir
to provide, furnish, garnish, – of German origin; cf. OHG.
warnōn
to provide, equip; akin to G.
wahren
to watch, E.
aware
,
ware
,
wary
, and cf. also E.
warn
. See
Wary
,
-ish
, and cf.
Garment
,
Garrison
.]
1.
To decorate with ornamental appendages; to set off; to adorn; to embellish.
All within with flowers was
garnished
.
Spenser.
2.
(Cookery)
To ornament, as a dish, with something laid about it;
as, a dish
garnished
with parsley
.
3.
To furnish; to supply.
4.
To fit with fetters.
[Cant]
Johnson.
5.
(Law)
To warn by garnishment; to give notice to; to garnishee. See
Garnishee
,
Verb.
T.
Cowell.

Gar′nish

,
Noun.
1.
Something added for embellishment; decoration; ornament; also, dress; garments, especially such as are showy or decorated.
So are you, sweet,
Even in the lovely
garnish
of a boy.
Shakespeare
Matter and figure they produce;
For
garnish
this, and that for use.
Prior.
2.
(Cookery)
Something set round or upon a dish as an embellishment, such as
parsley
. See
Garnish
,
Verb.
T.
, 2.
Smart.
3.
Fetters.
[Cant]
4.
A fee; specifically, in English jails, formerly an unauthorized fee demanded by the old prisoners of a newcomer.
[Cant]
Fielding.
Garnish bolt
(Carp.)
,
a bolt with a chamfered or faceted head.
Knight.

Webster 1828 Edition

Garnish

G`ARNISH

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To adorn; to decorate with appendages; to set off.
All within with flowers was garnished.
2.
To fit with fetters; a cant term.
3.
To furnish; to supply; as a fort garnished with troops.
4.
In law, to warn; to give notice. [See Garnishee.]

G`ARNISH

,
Noun.
Ornament; something added for embellishment; decoration.
Matter and figure they produce;
For garnish this, and that for use.
1.
In jails, fetters; a cant term.
2.
Pensiuncula carceraria; a fee; an acknowledgment in money when first a prisoner goes to jail.

Definition 2024

garnish

garnish

English

Verb

garnish ‎(third-person singular simple present garnishes, present participle garnishing, simple past and past participle garnished)

  1. To decorate with ornamental appendages; to set off; to adorn; to embellish.
    • Spenser
      All within with flowers was garnished.
  2. (cooking) To ornament, as a dish, with something laid about it; as, a dish garnished with parsley.
  3. To furnish; to supply.
    By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. (Job 26:13, KJV)
  4. (slang, archaic) To fit with fetters; to fetter
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)
  5. (law) To warn by garnishment; to give notice to; to garnishee.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

garnish ‎(plural garnishes)

  1. A set of dishes, often pewter, containing a dozen pieces of several types.
  2. Pewter vessels in general.
    • 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 4, p. 478:
      The accounts of collegiate and monastic institutions give abundant entries of the price of pewter vessels, called also garnish.
  3. Something added for embellishment; decoration; ornament; also, dress; garments, especially when showy or decorated.
    • Shakespeare
      So are you, sweet, / Even in the lovely garnish of a boy.
    • Prior
      Matter and figure they produce; / For garnish this, and that for use.
  4. (cooking) Something set round or upon a dish as an embellishment.
  5. (slang, obsolete) Fetters.
  6. (slang, historical) A fee; specifically, in English jails, formerly an unauthorized fee demanded from a newcomer by the older prisoners.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Fielding to this entry?)

Translations

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English garnischen, 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 *warnjan ‎(“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.

Pronunciation

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