refurbish
verb
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As seems proper given how English prefixes work, before you could refurbish something you could furbish it. That shorter word was borrowed into Middle English in the 14th century from Anglo-French as furbisshen; it shares a distant relative with the Old High German verb furben, meaning "to polish." In its earliest uses furbish also meant "to polish," but it developed an extended sense of "to renovate" shortly before English speakers created refurbish with the same meaning in the 17th century. These days refurbish is the more common of the two words, although furbish does continue to be used.
Examples of refurbish in a Sentence
Michael Barnes, Austin American Statesman, 29 July 2025
Hoch said the city had already bought colored bricks, that wouldn’t fade, to refurbish the intersection and the CRA had allocated money to refurbish Serenity Park.
—Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 18 July 2025
Whether it's refurbished and resold or recycled for metals and rare-earths, e-waste that stores data — especially smartphones, computers, servers and some medical devices — must be wiped of sensitive information to comply with cybersecurity and environmental regulations.
—Bob Woods, CNBC, 13 July 2025
Last year, the firehouse was given a new siren, while an old siren was refurbished and moved to Comfort Park, where officials hooked it up to a U.S. Geological Survey sensor at Cypress Creek, the AP.
—Brenton Blanchet, People.com, 11 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for refurbish
Cite this Entry
“Refurbish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/refurbish. Accessed 2 Aug. 2025.
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refurbish
verb
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