colourish

English

Noun

colourish (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) A substance used in gilding to brighten the finish of the gilded object.
   • 1598, John Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, or, Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English‎^[1], London: Edw. Blount, page 234:

     Muffola, a kind of colour that goldsmithes call colourish.

   • 1671, Robert Boyle, Some Considerations Touching the Usefulnesse of Experimental Naturall Philosophy, Oxford: Ric. Davis, Volume 2, Essay I, Section V, p. 27,^[2]

     For having by this means overlaid it evenly with Gold, they can easily with fire force away the Mercury; and, with a liquor impregnated with Nitre, Verdigrease, Sal Armoniack, and other Saline Bodies, which they call a Colourish, restore its lustre to the remaining Gold, which they after make bright by polishing.

Verb

colourish (third-person singular simple present colourishes, present participle colourishing, simple past and past participle colourished)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To add colour to, to brighten with colour.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica‎^[3], 2nd edition, London: Edw. Dod & Nath. Ekins, published 1650, Preface:

     Would truth dispense, we could be content, with Plato, that knowledge were but Remembrance; that Intellectuall acquisition were but Reminiscentiall evocation, and new impressions but the colourishing of old stamps which stood pale in the soul before.