Noun : the burnish of brass andirons.    From Dictionary.com. 

How dull it is to stop, to rust unburnished rather than to sparkle in use.    From Wordnik.com.  [The House at Riverton] Reference

And in this cemetery, on this day, the old words ring with the truth unburnished by time.    From Wordnik.com.  [CNN Transcript Feb 3, 2002] Reference

How dull it is to pause, to make an end, Epilogue To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!.    From Wordnik.com.  [Terra Incognita]

But I must risk all this in the name of unburnished truth, the only true love a chap can have.    From Wordnik.com.  [No she's not dead: she's just over 35] Reference

Neither the horse's metal breastplate nor the knight's unburnished plate armor reflected the sunlight.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Magic of Recluce]

He shows up, shows you where these people are, where he is and judges nothing more than unburnished honesty.    From Wordnik.com.  [Holly Gleason: The Hwy's Filled With Broken Heroes: Springsteen Tears A Hole In The Night] Reference

I rather think of Ted Kennedy, working phones from his sickbed to garner support for his lifelong cause of healthcare for all Americans, as scorning to rust unburnished.    From Wordnik.com.  [Archive 2009-08-23] Reference

Then the clansman keen, of conquest proud, passing the seat, 105 saw store of jewels and glistening gold the ground along; by the wall were marvels, and many a vessel in the den of the dragon, the dawn-flier old: unburnished bowls of bygone men reft of richness; rusty helms of the olden age; and arm-rings many wondrously woven. —.    From Wordnik.com.  [Beowulf, translated by Francis Gummere] Reference

I am diffident of appearing before the public unburnished by an abler hand.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders] Reference

What is it -- 'How dull it is to pause, to make an end, the rust unburnished --'.    From Wordnik.com.  [Captivity] Reference

Rust, better to be eaten to death with, 88. better wear out than, 853. unburnished, to, 625.    From Wordnik.com.  [Familiar Quotations A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature] Reference

Nor has the implement of celestial research he just lived to complete been allowed to "rust unburnished.".    From Wordnik.com.  [A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century Fourth Edition] Reference

Length by length, like a serpent grey and cold, sluggish, unburnished, dull, and bewildered, the column took the road.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Long Roll] Reference

On his shoulders under the shield he carried a splendid scarlet mantle; over his breast was a great brooch of burnt gold, and in his fist he gripped a pair of thick-shafted, unburnished spears.    From Wordnik.com.  [Irish Fairy Tales] Reference

But at intervals a clear stretch of it, looking like unburnished silver, would appear to view; and, farther on, after a sudden turn in the road, they found it flowing in increased volume across a plain, where it spread at times into glassy sheets which must often have changed their beds, for the gravelly soil was ravined on all sides.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Three Cities Trilogy: Lourdes, Volume 3] Reference

Hair like unburnished gold.    From Wordnik.com.  [Night World No. 2] Reference

To rust unburnished, not to shine in use.    From Wordnik.com.  [Climbing the Mountain]

6 feet long by 8 inches in diameter, the shell, or covering, having a dark appearance, with here and there tongues of fire issuing from spots on the surface, resembling red-hot, unburnished copper.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Book of the Damned] Reference

Radiant all over with unburnished gold.    From Wordnik.com.  [VERNAL ODE] Reference

To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Frontier in American History] Reference

To rust unburnished, not to shine in use, —.    From Wordnik.com.  [Quotations] Reference