finish

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• intransitive verb To stop (doing an activity or task) after reaching the point at which there is nothing left to do.
• intransitive verb To bring to a required or desired state: synonym: complete.
• intransitive verb To arrive at or attain the end of.
• intransitive verb Sports To perform the last maneuver in (an offensive play), scoring a goal.
• intransitive verb To consume all of; use up.
• intransitive verb To give (wood, for example) a desired or particular surface texture.
• intransitive verb To destroy; kill.
• intransitive verb To bring about the ruin of.
• intransitive verb To come to an end; stop.
• intransitive verb To reach the end of a task, course, or relationship.
• intransitive verb Sports To score a goal as the last maneuver in a play.
• noun The final part; the conclusion.
• noun The reason for one's ruin; downfall.
• noun Something that completes, concludes, or perfects, especially.
• noun The last treatment or coating of a surface.
• noun The surface texture produced by such a treatment or coating.
• noun A material used in surfacing or finishing.
• noun Completeness, refinement, or smoothness of execution; polish.
• noun The flavor left in the mouth after wine has been swallowed.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In building, all those parts of the work which are not essential to the structure but are intended to give elegance of appearance or neatness within, or such smoothness of surface as makes it easily cleaned.
• noun The end or last part of any movement or progress; especially, the end of a race or competitive contest of any kind.
• noun The last work performed upon any object, whereby it is completed or perfected.
• noun Careful elaboration or its result; polish: as, the finish of a work of art, a poem, or a piece of cloth; to put a fine finish on anything, or to give it an exquisite finish; finish in deportment.
• noun The last hard, smooth coat of plaster on a wall: commonly called hard-finish.
• To bring to an end; arrive at the end of; complete by passing throughout the length or extent of: as, to finish a journey or an undertaking; to finish the day; to finish one's life.
• To bring to completion; complete by making or doing the last or final part of: as, to finish the reading of a book; to finish a task assigned; to finish a house.
• To put an end to; terminate the existence, opposition, etc., of; destroy: as, to finish an enemy by an overwhelming defeat; the last blow finished him.
• To complete and perfect in detail; elaborate carefully; put the final touches on, especially with reference to smoothing and polishing.
• To arrive at the end; stop.
• To come to an end; terminate; expire.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb To arrive at the end of; to bring to an end; to put an end to; to make an end of; to terminate.
• transitive verb To bestow the last required labor upon; to complete; to bestow the utmost possible labor upon; to perfect; to accomplish; to polish.
• intransitive verb To come to an end; to terminate.
• intransitive verb rare To end; to die.
• noun That which finishes, puts an end to� or perfects.
• noun (Arch.) The joiner work and other finer work required for the completion of a building, especially of the interior. See Inside finish, and Outside finish.
• noun The labor required to give final completion to any work; hence, minute detail, careful elaboration, or the like.
• noun See Finishing coat, under Finishing.
• noun The result of completed labor, as on the surface of an object; manner or style of finishing
• noun Completion; -- opposed to start, or beginning.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun An end: the end of anything.
• noun A protective coating given to wood or metal and other surfaces.
• noun The result of any process changing the physical or chemical properties of cloth.
• noun sports A shot on goal, especially one that ends in a goal.
• verb transitive To complete (something).
• verb transitive To apply a treatment to (a surface or similar).