Meaning

To decorate with ornaments; to adorn; to embellish..

Definitions by Sense

1. To decorate with ornaments; to adorn; to embellish.
2. (cooking) To ornament with something placed around it.
3. (archaic) To furnish; to supply.
4. (slang, archaic) To fit with fetters; to fetter.
5. (law) To warn by garnishment; to give notice to.
6. (law) To have (money) set aside by court order (particularly for the payment of alleged debts); to garnishee.
7. A set of dishes, often pewter, containing a dozen pieces of several types.
8. Pewter vessels in general.

Example Sentences

1710, Joseph Addison, The Tatler, No. 163, 25 April, 1710, Glasgow: Robert Urie, 1754, p. 165, […] as that admirable writer has the best and worst verses of any among our English poets, Ned Softly has got all the bad ones without book, which he repeats upon occasion, to shew his reading, and garnish his conversation.

And all within with flowres was garnished,

[…] the whip […] was garnished with a massive horse’s head of plated metal.

a dish garnished with a sprig/spray of parsley

By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

[…] the good-humoured, affectionate-hearted Godfrey Cass was fast becoming a bitter man, visited by cruel wishes, that seemed to enter, and depart, and enter again, like demons who had found in him a ready-garnished home.

When the editorial board of Fire met again, we did not plan a new issue, but emptied our pockets to help poor Thurman whose wages were being garnished weekly because he had signed for the printer’s bills.

The accounts of collegiate and monastic institutions give abundant entries of the price of pewter vessels, called also garnish.

Word Forms

• garnishes
• garnishing
• garnished

Synonyms for garnish

Related Words

When Should You Use Garnish?

Use garnish when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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