patina

• It was a beautiful sight to see Bran fly along the patina: across the swampy bottom, taking the broad stream in one bound, and skimming up the hill, he was on the buck's path in a few minutes, pulling up to him at every stride. —  The Rifle and The Hound in Ceylon
• Harry Cohen only hinted at the interesting - ella diminutives of Latin - inas, such as patella (patina was a ` little bronze bowl ') and female (from femina, no relation to male). —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XIV No 3
• Chad let his look rest like a patina of dust on each of a dozen pieces in turn, and he thought how like a small museum Zero's room was, the furniture beautiful or bizarre, but unique. —  The End of the Pier
• Its white wool had acquired a dark, greasy patina which some ruffians would take years to apply to their working gear. —  A Body In The Bath House
• Marble sculpture, which is chemically similar to the plaster used for frescoes, can also suffer from pollution and, as is inevitable, gradually acquires a darker surface, while bronzes too develop a natural patina (although, as with marble, this can be added artificially too). —  Restoration or Ruination?

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