"polish a turd" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "polishes a turd",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "polishing a turd",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "polished a turd",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "polished a turd",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "polish a turd (third-person singular simple present polishes a turd, present participle polishing a turd, simple past and past participle polished a turd)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
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          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
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          "source": "w"
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          "source": "w"
        },
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          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
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        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2006, Michael Fak, Portions of a Life: Recollections and Reflections, page 197:",
          "text": "Demaso, trying hard to scrub a wall behind one of the toilets, started complaining how dirty the walls in the entire bathroom were. Tripp also chimed in that they were polishing a turd and that what the bathroom needed was a fresh coat of paint.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To work on a time-consuming and ultimately pointless or impossible task; to try to perfect what is inherently bad."
      ],
      "id": "en-polish_a_turd-en-verb-qquAObTp",
      "links": [
        [
          "time-consuming",
          "time-consuming"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, vulgar) To work on a time-consuming and ultimately pointless or impossible task; to try to perfect what is inherently bad."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "you can't polish a turd"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "vulgar"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "work on a time-consuming and ultimately pointless task",
          "word": "hinkata"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
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    {
      "audio": "En-au-polish a turd.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/En-au-polish_a_turd.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "polish a turd"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "polishes a turd",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "polishing a turd",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "polished a turd",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "polished a turd",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "polish a turd (third-person singular simple present polishes a turd, present participle polishing a turd, simple past and past participle polished a turd)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "you can't polish a turd"
    }
  ],
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        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "English vulgarities",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Terms with Finnish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2006, Michael Fak, Portions of a Life: Recollections and Reflections, page 197:",
          "text": "Demaso, trying hard to scrub a wall behind one of the toilets, started complaining how dirty the walls in the entire bathroom were. Tripp also chimed in that they were polishing a turd and that what the bathroom needed was a fresh coat of paint.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To work on a time-consuming and ultimately pointless or impossible task; to try to perfect what is inherently bad."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "time-consuming",
          "time-consuming"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, vulgar) To work on a time-consuming and ultimately pointless or impossible task; to try to perfect what is inherently bad."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "vulgar"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "work on a time-consuming and ultimately pointless task",
      "word": "hinkata"
    }
  ],
  "word": "polish a turd"
}