The AI-powered English dictionary
countable and uncountable, plural veneers
A thin decorative covering of fine material (usually wood) applied to coarser wood or other material. quotations examples
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, […].
1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess
An attractive appearance that covers or disguises one's true nature or feelings. quotations examples
“Yalda,” Dabashi says, “has managed to survive the centuries because it has been gently recodified with a Muslim veneer.”
2014 December 5, “Joy From the World”, in The New York Times Magazine, retrieved 6 December 2014
third-person singular simple present veneers, present participle veneering, simple past and past participle veneered
(transitive, woodworking) To apply veneer to. quotations examples
The stateroom walls are veneered with finely figured English chestnut with the skirting and mouldings in English walnut.
1947 January and February, “South African Royal Train”, in Railway Magazine, page 36
(transitive, figurative) To disguise with apparent goodness. quotations examples
[O]ne / Discuss'd his tutor, rough to common men / But honeying at the whisper of a lord; / And one the Master, as a rogue in grain / Veneer'd with sanctimonious theory.
1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Prologue”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], page 6