burnish vs saffron

burnish

verb
  • To make (something, such as a surface) bright, shiny, and smooth by, or (by extension) as if by, rubbing; to polish, to shine. 

  • Of a thing: to increase in size; to expand, to spread out, to swell. 

  • To appear positive and highly respected. 

  • To become bright, glossy, and smooth; to brighten, to gleam, to shine forth. 

  • Of a person's body: to grow large or stout; to fatten, to fill out. 

  • Of a stag: to remove the velvet (“skin and fine fur”) from (its antlers) by rubbing them against something; to velvet. 

  • To make (someone or something) appear positive and highly respected. 

noun
  • A shiny layer applied to a surface or other thing. 

  • The making of something bright, shiny, and smooth by, or (by extension) as if by, rubbing; (countable) an instance of this; a burnishing, a polishing, a shining. 

  • A shine of something which has been polished; a lustre, a polish. 

saffron

verb
  • To colour (a metal or wooden surface) with a gilding product containing saffron. 

  • To add saffron to (a food), for taste, colour etc. 

  • To dye (a fabric, garment, etc.) with a saffron-based dye. 

  • To give a saffron colour to (something). 

  • To embellish. 

adj
  • Having an orange-yellow colour. 

noun
  • An orange-yellow colour, the colour of a lion's pelt. 

  • A spice (seasoning) and colouring agent made from the stigma and part of the style of the plant, sometimes or formerly also used as a dye and insect repellent. 

  • The plant Crocus sativus, a crocus. 

How often have the words burnish and saffron occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )