2to improve a piece of writing, a speech etc by making slight changes to it before it is completely finished:
Your essay is good, you just need to polish it a bit.
polish somebody/something ↔ off
a) to finish food, work etc quickly or easily:
Sam polished off the rest of the pizza.
b) American Englishto kill or defeat a person or animal when they are weak or wounded:
He was polished off with a shotgun blast to the face.
polish something ↔ up
1alsopolish up on somethingto improve a skill or an ability by practising it:
You should polish up your Spanish before you go to Chile.
2to make something seem better or more attractive to other people:
The company needs to polish up its image.
3to polish something
WORD FOCUS: clean WORD FOCUS: clean washwith soap and water wipewith a damp cloth brushwith a brush to remove the dirt polishby rubbing with a cloth scrubby rubbing hard sweepwith a broom mopwith water and a mop (a tool with a long handle) vacuumalsohooverBritish Englishwith a machine that sucks up dust disinfectusing chemicals to kill germs cleanseto clean your skin using a special cream rinseto put water on to remove dirt or soap dustto remove dust, for example with a cloth ➔ See alsoclean
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Advanced Learner's Dictionary.