spit and shine
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to polish or clean something until it looks very good
Literally: to spit on something to dampen it and then shine it
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “Irreversible binomial” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
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Common questions
What does “spit and shine” mean?
to polish or clean something until it looks very good Literally: to spit on something to dampen it and then shine it
Is “spit and shine” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
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