garnish

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

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑɹnɪʃ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑːnɪʃ/

Verb

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

1. To decorate with ornaments; to adorn; to embellish.
   • Spenser

     All within with flowers was garnished.

2. (cooking) To ornament with something placed around it.

   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.

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, page 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

   Synonyms: decoration, ornament

4. clothes; garments, especially when showy or decorative.
   • 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.

5. (cooking) Something set round or upon a dish as an embellishment.
6. (slang, obsolete) Fetters.
7. (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?)

Further reading

• garnish in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• garnish in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• garnish at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Harings, rashing, sharing