veneer

A thin surface layer, as of finely grained wood, glued to a base of inferior material.

Any of the thin layers glued together to make plywood.

A decorative facing, as of brick.

A deceptive, superficial show; a façade.

To overlay (a surface) with a thin layer of a fine or decorative material.

To glue together (layers of wood) to make plywood.

To conceal, as something common or crude, with a deceptively attractive outward show.

To overlay or face, as an inferior wood, with wood of a finer or more beautiful kind, so as to give the whole the appearance of being made of the more valuable material; cover with veneers: as, to veneer a wardrobe or other article of furniture.

To cover with a thin coating of substance similar to the body, in other materials than wood, as in ceramics.

Hence To impart a more agreeable appearance to, as to something vicious, worthless, or forbidding; disguise with a superficial attraction; gild.