garnish

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To enhance in appearance by adding decorative touches; embellish: a coat that was garnished with a fur collar.
2. v. To decorate (prepared food or drink) with small colorful or savory items: garnished the potatoes with parsley.
3. v. Law To garnishee.
4. n. Ornamentation; embellishment.
5. n. An embellishment added to a prepared food or drink for decoration or added flavor.
6. n. Slang An unwarranted fee, such as one extorted from a new prisoner by a jailer.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. 1. To fortify; defend.
2. To adorn; decorate with ornaments or appendages; set off.
3. To fit with fetters.
4. To furnish; supply; garrison.
5. In cookery, to ornament, as a dish, with something laid round it.
6. In law, to warn; give notice. Specifically— To summon in, so as to take part in litigation already pending between others.
7. n. Ornament; something added for embellishment; decoration; dress; array.
8. n. In cookery, something placed round or added to a principal dish at table, either for embellishment merely or for use as a relish.
9. n. A set of dishes, plates, and the like, for table use.
10. n. Fetters.
11. n. A fee, as to a servant; specifically, money formerly paid by a prisoner on his going to prison as a fee to fellow-prisoners: now illegal.

Wiktionary

1. v. To decorate with ornamental appendages; to set off; to adorn; to embellish; as, all within with flowers was garnished.
2. v. To ornament, as a dish, with something laid about it; as, a dish garnished with parsley.
3. v. To furnish; to supply.
4. v. To fit with fetters.
5. v. To warn by garnishment; to give notice to; to garnishee.
6. n. a set of dishes, often pewter, containing a dozen pieces of several types.
7. n. pewter vessels in general.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To decorate with ornamental appendages; to set off; to adorn; to embellish.
2. v. To ornament, as a dish, with something laid about it.
3. v. To furnish; to supply.
4. v. To fit with fetters.
5. v. To warn by garnishment; to give notice to; to garnishee. See Garnishee, v. t.
6. n. Something added for embellishment; decoration; ornament; also, dress; garments, especially such as are showy or decorated.
7. n. Something set round or upon a dish as an embellishment, such as parsley. See Garnish, v. t., 2.
8. n. Fetters.
9. n. A fee; specifically, in English jails, formerly an unauthorized fee demanded by the old prisoners of a newcomer.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. decorate (food), as with parsley or other ornamental foods
2. n. any decoration added as a trimming or adornment
3. v. take a debtor's wages on legal orders, such as for child support
4. n. something (such as parsley) added to a dish for flavor or decoration