veneer

plural veneers

1. countableuncountableA thin decorative covering of fine material (usually wood) applied to coarser wood or other material.

   Compartment and corridor partitions are of blockboard, with appropriate decorative veneers to suit the varied interior decoration.

   1951 May, “British Railways Standard Coaches”, in Railway Magazine, pages 327-328

   1 more example

   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: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

2. countableuncountableAn attractive appearance that covers or disguises one's true nature or feelings, the veneer of culture.

   “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 06 Dec 2014

3. countableuncountabledentistryA layer of material placed over a tooth.

present singular third person veneers · participle present veneering · participle past veneered · past veneered

1. transitiveartsTo apply veneer to.

   to veneer a piece of furniture with mahogany

   1 more example

   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

2. figurativelytransitiveTo disguise with apparent goodness.

   [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, […], →OCLC, page 6

   1 more example

   The currently advocated Family Protection Act, which thinly veneers its discriminatory attitudes about strict social conformity and the disallowance of individual choice with a stated concern for today's social fabric.

   1981 December 19, Andrew C. Irish, “Support For Gay Nurses”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 22, page 4