Definition of "patinate" []

• To furnish with a patina. (verb-transitive)
• To acquire or become covered with a patina. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Josiah Wedgwood used "Dr. Turner's brown varnish" to put an antiqued bronze surface on pottery. 1 Metals were varnished to protect them from rust, preserve their luster without constant polishing, deepen their color or patinate the surface."
• "History could not patinate the members of the monster because history had no time to evolve."
• "Elliott had also called the Mestrovic restoration "highly questionable" because the coating gave the bronzes a rubbery, dime-store look and wouldn't allow them to patinate naturally."