polite

comparative politer · comparative more polite · superlative politest · superlative most polite

1. Well-mannered, civilized.

   Try and be polite to Auntie Maria for once.

   3 more examples

   It's not polite to use a mobile phone in a restaurant.

   He marries, bows at court, and grows polite.

   1733, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Bathurst

   I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

2. obsoleteSmooth, polished, burnished.

   rays of light […]falling on […]a polite surface

   1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC

present singular third person polites · participle present politing · participle past polited · past polited

1. obsoletetransitiveTo polish; to refine; to render polite.

   those exercises plied, which polite men's spirits

   1691, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation. […], London: […] Samuel Smith, […], →OCLC

plural Polites

1. A surname.