To smooth, polish, or sharpen a surface using emery paper, cloth, or powder.
From emery (Middle French émeri, Greek smiris) plus the infinitive suffix -ize, which means 'to make or treat with.' The suffix became common in English to form verbs from nouns.
The '-ize' suffix is so productive in English that we can turn almost any noun into a verb—'emerize' follows the same pattern as 'oxidize' or 'minimize.'
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