Definition of GARNISH

garnish

Meanings

Plural: garnishes

Noun

  • something (such as parsley) added to a dish for flavor or decoration
  • any decoration added as a trimming or adornment
  • A set of dishes, often pewter, containing a dozen pieces of several types.
  • Pewter vessels in general.
  • Something added for embellishment.
  • Clothes; garments, especially when showy or decorative.
  • Something set round or upon a dish as an embellishment.
  • Fetters.
  • A fee; specifically, in English jails, formerly an unauthorized fee demanded from a newcomer by the older prisoners.
  • Cash.

Verb

  • take a debtor's wages on legal orders, such as for child support
    • "His employer garnished his wages in order to pay his debt"
  • decorate (food), as with parsley or other ornamental foods
  • To decorate with ornaments; to adorn; to embellish.
  • To ornament with something placed around it.
  • To furnish; to supply.
  • To fit with fetters; to fetter.
  • To warn by garnishment; to give notice to.
  • To have (money) set aside by court order (particularly for the payment of alleged debts); to garnishee.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English garnysshen, from Old French garniss-, stem of certain forms of the verb garnir, guarnir, warnir (“to provide, furnish, avert, defend, warn, fortify, garnish”), from a conflation of Old Frankish *warnijan (“to refuse, deny”) and *warnōn (“warn, protect, prepare, beware, guard oneself”), from Proto-Germanic *warnijaną (“to worry, care, heed”) and Proto-Germanic *warnōną (“to warn”); both from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to defend, protect, cover”). Cognate with Old English wiernan (“to withhold, be sparing of, deny, refuse, reject, decline, forbid, prevent from, avert”) and warnian (“to warn, caution, take warning, take heed, guard oneself against, deny”). More at warn.

Scrabble Score: 11

garnish is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
garnish is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
garnish is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

garnish is a valid Words With Friends word