tarnish

«tarnish» in Mova's school dictionary: when metal like silver, brass or copper loses its shine… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (tarnish, tarnishes, tarnished, tarnishing); noun (tarnish, uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) To tarnish is when metal like silver, brass or copper loses its shine and gets dull or dark, because of the air. tree →

2) To tarnish someone's name or reputation is to make people think less well of them. tree →

3) (noun) Tarnish is the dull, dark layer that forms on metal. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, tarnishing is a chemical change: silver reacts with sulphur in the air and goes black; copper goes green over time (like the Statue of Liberty). Pupils clean coins with vinegar and salt to see tarnish come off. In stories and news, «tarnished reputation» means people trust someone less after something bad. Phrases: «tarnished silver», «tarnish a reputation», «polish off the tarnish».

examples

• Grandma's silver spoons have tarnished. tree →
• We cleaned the tarnished pennies with vinegar and salt. tree →
• The brass doorknob is covered in tarnish. tree →
• Cheating tarnished the team's good name. tree →
• Gold does not tarnish easily. tree →
• The scandal tarnished the king's reputation. tree →
• The old woman returned in the night and knew by the tarnished thread what had happened in her absence. tree →

note

Third person: «it tarnishes». The noun «tarnish» is uncountable. Gold hardly tarnishes; that is one reason it is valued. Tarnishing is not exactly rust: rust is iron going orange-brown.

In the corpora

• The silver has tarnished: its surface joined with tiny amounts of sulphur gases in the air and made a thin dark layer.
• Tarnish is a chemical change on the very surface of a metal.
• And a clever trick with foil, baking soda and hot water can even turn the black tarnish on silver back into silver.
• Silver tarnishes because it reacts with sulphur gases in the air and makes a thin black layer.
• Eggs, onions and some rubber give off sulphur gases, so silver egg spoons tarnish very quickly.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «tarnish» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.