veneer

Etymology

From German Furnier, from furnieren (“to inlay, cover with a veneer”), from French fournir (“to furnish, accomplish”), from Middle French fornir, from Old French fornir, furnir (“to furnish”), from Old Frankish frumjan (“to provide”), from Proto-Germanic *frumjaną (“to further, promote”). Cognate with Old High German frumjan, frummen (“to accomplish, execute, provide”), Old English fremian (“to promote, perform”). More at furnish.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /vəˈniə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): [vɨˈniə̆ɹ]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Noun

veneer (plural veneers)

1. A thin decorative covering of fine material (usually wood) applied to coarser wood or other material.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess‎:

     A very neat old woman, still in her good outdoor coat and best beehive hat, was sitting at a polished mahogany table on whose surface there were several scored scratches so deep that a triangular piece of the veneer had come cleanly away, […].

2. An attractive appearance that covers or disguises true nature or feelings.
   • 2014 December 5, "Joy From the World," The New York Times Magazine (retrieved 6 December 2014):

     “Yalda,” Dabashi says, “has managed to survive the centuries because it has been gently recodified with a Muslim veneer.”

Verb

veneer (third-person singular simple present veneers, present participle veneering, simple past and past participle veneered)

1. (transitive, woodworking) To apply veneer to.

   to veneer a piece of furniture with mahogany

2. (transitive, figuratively) To disguise with apparent goodness.
   • Tennyson

     As a rogue in grain / Veneered with sanctimonious theory.

Anagrams

• Vereen, enerve, evener