lacquer
/ˈlakə
/noun [mass noun]
1A liquid made of shellac dissolved in alcohol, or of synthetic substances, that dries to form a hard protective coating for wood, metal, etc. shot-blasted mild steel finished in grey mottled epoxy lacquer [count noun]: canned lacquers which dry by solvent evaporation...
- Finish highly detailed natural and stained wood with spray lacquer, shellac or polyurethane.
- Floors finished with lacquer or shellac are nearly impossible to repair successfully.
- A primer is then applied to fill in any small holes, followed by a coat of paint and another layer of protective lacquer until the alloys are almost as good as new.
2The sap of the lacquer tree used as a varnish.Furthermore, imitative products like varnish which substituted for lacquer generated new industries and created distinctive products....
- The procedure for making true lacquer required the resin secreted by the Rhus vemicifera, a sumac tree that was not indigenous to the West and was unknown in Europe until the beginning of the eighteenth century.
- If you take three identical pieces of furniture, finish one in lacquer, one in varnish, and one in polyurethane, no one is going to be able to tell you which is which without testing the finish with solvents.
2.1Decorative wooden articles coated with lacquer: [as modifier]: a lacquer box...
- This year's chairman, Roger Keverne, exhibits a very rare early fifteenth-century Chinese red lacquer box and a massive Tang Horse, among other treasures.
- It was nothing like the jewellery she was used to handling, nothing compared to the jewels in her japanned lacquer box.
- However, Kagedo's main focus was to introduce contemporary Japanese lacquer artwork, and it succeeded in selling several lacquer pieces.
3 (also hair lacquer) A chemical substance sprayed on hair to keep it in place: rows of peroxide curls rigid with lacquer...
- In the Hap, the air was heady with hormones and the scent of Brylcreem, cheap hair lacquer and cigarette smoke.
- He has his own blow-drier, shampoos, special mousses and hair lacquer, special stuff to fluff his tail up, and special clippers.
- Yes, it's been scorching so keep spraying that ozone layer with your tins of hair lacquer!
verb [with object] (often as adjective lacquered)
1Coat with lacquer: a small lacquered table...
- Most aluminum used in visible parts of appliances is lacquered or otherwise coated, anodized or painted.
- French and English furniture and Japanese lacquered cabinets grace the room.
- Despite it's name it actually feels more like a New York bar as they've wisely avoided the usual spread of overly lacquered replica oriental furniture.
2Spray (the hair) with lacquer: a stocky man with a lacquered helmet of black hair...
- I haven't regularly worn eye pencil since the late 1980s (teamed with sky-high lacquered hair, heavily kohled eyes and rah-rah skirts worn with leg-warmers).
- Every time you switch on the television there's Rev Al Sharpton, his wide face and lacquered hair filling the screen as he jabs his fingers in the air, denouncing a justice system that allows a man's death to go unanswered.
- His wife has heavily lacquered Big Hair, a white blazer, and a navy blue pleated skirt.
Derivatives
lacquerer
/ noun ...- These were known as ‘chang sib mu’ literally meaning artisans of the ten types and included draughtsmen and gilders, lacquerers, fret workers and fruit and vegetable carvers, amongst their number.
- In other words, potters made the porcelain netsuke, and lacquerers produced the lacquer netsuke.
- A lacquerer in Augustus's court, Christian Reinow, painted some of the figures, but over the years the colors separated from the porcelain, and much of the paint was removed in the nineteenth century.
Origin
Late 16th century (denoting lac): from obsolete French lacre 'sealing wax', from Portuguese laca (see lac1).