Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to attack.

1828		Sussex Advertiser 14 Apr. 4/3: His only rencontre having been with Shelton, whom he polished off in style — he is well known to be a most terrific hitter.
[1859		Bell’s Life in Tasmania 13 Sept. 3/6: The parties [...] whom we shall respectively designate the ‘Polisher’ and : ‘Lanky’ ].
1862		‘Artemus Ward’ Artemus Ward, His Book 108: I thort at fust Ide pollish him orf ar-lar the Beneki Boy, but on reflectin that he cood pollish me much wuss in his paper, I giv it up.
1866		Wild Boys of London I 192/2: I feels as though I’d like to polish off a few more.
1871		Newry Teleg. 6 Apr. 4/1: ‘What shall we do with him, Jack?’ ‘Lemme go back and polish ’m off,’ pleaded the stripling .

2. to complete or finish, esp. of a meal or a job of work.

1836–7		Dickens Pickwick Papers (1999) 344: Mayn’t I polish that ere Job off, the front garden?
1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 52: Clay, my boy, just polish off that third swell and we’ll be off down the road.
1854		F. Smedley Harry Coverdale’s Courtship 3: When we’ve polished off the rabbits.
1859		G.F. Atkinson Curry & Rice (3 edn) n.p.: [W]e do hear it affirmed that ‘Our Padre’ is a little too precipitate [and] that he ‘polishes off’ the service, as it is heathenly expressed, in a manner that suggests hot coffee waiting at the mess.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 1: In the twinkling of an eye it was grabbed by a blue number at his rear, and quickly polished off.
1877		J. Greenwood Dick Temple I 186: Barney, would you do a neighbourly act, and polish off a few of ’em [i.e. customers]?
1889		B. Mitford Fire Trumpet III 29: He’ll soon polish it off.
1889		R.W. Coan ‘In The Future’ 🎵 One day the jam he got and polished off the lot.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 29 Apr. 5/3: [headline] ‘Polishing Off’ Polish.
1896		M. Williams Round London 128: As soon as you’ve polished off your breakfast and dressed.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 5 July 16/3: Have heard, when in camp, a drover who had just polished off half-a-dozen chops, exclaim to his starving dog: ‘Get out! you -- greedy brute!’ – at the same time administering a cruel kick in the ribs.
1914		Joyce ‘Counterparts’ Dubliners (1956) 91: At this Farrington told the boys to polish off that and have another.
1926		Wood & Goddard Dict. Amer. Sl.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 223: She had polished off her salmon, and now put the plate down.
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 43: The monkey polished off the fruit in quick time.
1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 17: In silence they finished the steak and polished the egg off the plates.
1965		A. James America’s Homosexual Underground 76: The salesmen are taking the husbands up to their rooms, pretending they’re going to polish off a bottle.
1978		F. Norman Dead Butler Caper 33: I polished off the remains of my drink.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 74: Les sat there and polished off another four cans [of beer].
1989		J. Hibberd Memoirs of an Old Bastard 64: I polished off a cockle-warming and Shiraz-laden Crozes Hermitage.
1993		J. Mowry Six Out Seven (1994) 46: Corbitt took the bottle [...] ‘Mmm. I polish off all this, I fo sho not be sad cause I wake up in heaven for real!’.
2000		P. Roth Human Stain 222: Bobcat sets himself the pleasant task of polishing off Les’s soup.

3. to defeat; to put paid to.

1829		Pierce Egan’s Wkly Courier 22 Mar. 4/1: McGinnis [...] continued te fight [...]h to the sixty-second round, when he polished off his opponent.
1837		‘The Devil and Johnny Dixon’ in Bentley’s Misc. Mar. 258: I fancied I had him ‘polished off;’ but, dipping his hand into his big-coat pocket, he produced a green silk purse.
1848		Thackeray Vanity Fair II 139: Bob had his coat off at once – he stood up to the Banbury man for three minutes, and polished him off in four rounds easy.
1853		G.J. Whyte-Melville Digby Grand (1890) 88: [He] was regaining his breath after having, as he expressed it, ‘polished off a corporal in the Life Guards.’.
1863		Belfast Wkly News 17 Jan. 2/5: He denounced the landlords, ‘polished off’ several individuals and [...] concluded his harangue with a ‘hit’ at the Town Council.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1880		Hartlepool Northern Dly Mail 25 Nov. 3/6: Lord E. was showy. He had a good deal of the quack about him. So much for Lord Ellenborough hooroo! (Polish him off — hurroo!).
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 5: He rolled into a man big enough to eat him and polished him off.
1894		J. Astley Fifty Years (2nd edn) I 145: I polished off my old friend.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 11 Nov. 1/5: Major Hutting [...] looks able of ’is own accord to pollish off about fifty Chows.
1900		Marvel XIV:358 Sept. 3: I want to compliment you on the way you polished off the terror of the camp, Pistol Pete.
1914		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Nov. 26/2: In the match between North Melb. and Richmond the latter was polished off for 88 runs on tricky ground, while the former [...] knocked up 106 for seven wickets.
1927		(con. 1835–40) P. Herring Bold Bendigo 91: Oh, dammit all, Nat, I could have polished him off in another five minutes.

4. to kill (clandestinely).

1848		G.W.M. Reynolds Mysteries of London II (2nd series) 394: The sooner you let me polish you off, the better.
1857		Illus. Malvern Advertiser 19 Sept. 2/3: The plan was [...] by treachery or night attack [...] to polish off all the rest of us .
1866		J. Greenwood Little Ragamuffin 251: A scheme for polishing Spider off, and making an end of him.
1888		Manchester Courier 20 Oct. 16/6: The prisoner [...] went into the King’s Arms [...] brandishing it [i.e. a knife] about, said he was ‘Jack the Ripper’ and that he had polished off four and meant to polish off another .
1890		H. Nisbet ‘Bail Up!’ 103: I wonder how much of the blamed stuff [i.e. laudanum] it would take to polish him off altogether?
1903		J. London People of the Abyss 97: They were all agreed that the poor person [...] who in the Infirmary gave too much trouble or was in a bad way, was ‘polished off.’.
1921		D.L. Sayers Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1977) 209: I’d like to know how many inconvenient people are polished off that way.
1934		C. Stead Seven Poor Men of Sydney 180: I’m such a little chap; it’s easy to polish me off.
1941		J.K. Butler ‘Saint in Silver’ in Goulart (1967) 97: It would be just swell if Walgreen [...] got polished off.
1958		R. Prather Scrambled Yeggs 11: You wouldn’t polish a kid off just because a few grand turns up missing.
1960		Bonner (trans.) of Villon Le Jargon et Jobelin 179: Once those guys get hold of you, / you’ll be polished off / by the hangman’s filthy paws.
1971		(con. WWII) B. Aldiss Soldier Erect 153: His wife was polished off by that bomb.
1989		R. Dahl Rhyme Stew (1990) 34: And so a dozen brainy men / Met secretly inside a den / To formulate a subtle plot / To polish off this royal clot.
1999		Guardian Rev. 6 Nov. 9: The injection of morphine that he asked to be polished off with.