/ · 1894 Brewer’s · V · Varnish
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from the French vernis: Italian, verʹnice. Sir G. C. Lewis says the word is a corruption of Bereniʹce, famous for her amber hair, which was dedicated in the temple of Arsinʹoē, and became a constellation. (See Berenice.)
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.