fine 
as, a fine actor or musician ; a fine scholar or 
workman. 
There come with this kyng a coynt mon of shappe, 
ffellist in light, and a fun archer. 
Df.il ruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7715. 
Where shall I find one that can steal well ? O, for a /me 
thief, of the age of two-and-twenty, or thereabout ! 
Shot., 1 Hen. IV., iii. 3. 
Let me tell you, I have, which I will show to you, an ar- 
tificial minnow, that will catch a trout as well as an arti- 
ficial fly ; audit was made by a handsome woman that had 
a/in hand, and a live minnow lying by her. 
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 94. 
8. Delicate in perception or feeling; nicely 
discriminating ; acutely susceptible to impres- 
sions : as, a fine wit ; a fine taste ; a fine sense 
of color. 
For hadde neuere frek [man] fyn wit the faith to dispute 
Ne man myghte haue no merit ther-of, myghte hit be 
proued. Piers Plowman (C), xii. 149. 
And fitted fables for yarn finer ears, 
Although at first he scarce could hit the bore. 
B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, Prol. 
The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine ! 
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line. 
Pope, Essay on Man, i. 217. 
A certain fine temper of being was now not brought out 
in full relief. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, vii. 
You shake your head. A random string 
Your finer female sense offends. 
Tennyson, Day-Dream, L'Envoi. 
9. Minutely precise or exact ; subtle : as, a fine 
distinction ; a fine point in an argument. 
We should do the Church of God small benefit by dis- 
puting with them [the Church of Rome] according unto 
tbe finest points of their dark conveyances. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 7. 
Thou art too fine in thy evidence. Shak., All's Well, v. 3. 
The detection of impurities in the air is ... of the ut- 
most importance, and it is only by the finest methods that 
they can be ascertained in small quantities of air. 
Angus Smith, quoted in J. Constantine's Pract. 
[Ventilation, i. 
10. Free from foreign matter; without dross or 
feculence or other impurities ; clear; pure; re- 
fined: as, fine gold; fine oil. 
The good whyte brede, the good red wyne, 
And thereto thefyne ale browne. 
Lytell Geste of Jiobyn Hade (Child's Ballads, V. 112). 
His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a fur- 
nace. Rev. i. 15. 
Other [gold] less fine in carat is more precious. 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 4. 
They entertained me as well as they could, made cakes 
which were sour, and brought fine oil of olives. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 5. 
11. Delicate or choice in material, texture, or 
style; light, thin, elegant, tasteful, etc., ac- 
cording to the nature of the thing spoken of: 
as, fine silk or wool ; fine linen or cambric. 
It ys Also of tables otfyne whith marble stonne. 
Torkinyton, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 49. 
Pharaoh . . . arrayed him in vestures of fine linen. 
Gen. xli. 42. 
Why, thy verse swells with stuff en fine and smooth, 
That thou art even natural in thine art. 
Shak., T. of A., v. 1. 
12. Thin in consistence ; subtile; rare; tenu- 
ous : as, fine spirits evaporate rapidly. 
When the eye standeth in the finer medium, and the ob- 
ject in the grosser, things show greater. Bacon. 
It is the law of fluids that prescribes the shape of the 
boat,. . . and, in the/i'iierfluid above, the form and tackle 
of the sails. Emerson, Art 
With the first appearance of the dawn I had heard the 
new thrush in the scattered trees near the hut a strain 
as fine as if blown upon a fairy flute, a suppressed musi- 
cal whisper from out the tops of the dark spruces. 
J. Burroughs, The Century, XXXVI. 614. 
13. Consisting of minute particles, grains, 
drops, flakes, etc.: as, fine sand or flour; fine 
rain or snow ; fine shot. 
Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal. 
Gen. xviii. 6. 
The wind blew fiercely over the hills, loaded with par- 
ticles of snow, us fine as the point of a needle and as hard 
as crystal. B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 58. 
14. Very small in girth or diameter; slender; 
attenuated: as, fine thread; fine wire; a fine 
hair ; a fine needle. 
He draweth put the thread of his verbosity finer than 
the staple of his argument. Shak., L. L. L., v. 1. 
Ere yet mortality's fine threads give way. 
Cowper, Task, v. 578. 
The lawyers of the Duchy of Lancaster . . . complained 
that as soon as they had split a hair, Lord Holland pro- 
ceeded to split the filaments into filaments still finer. 
Macaulay, Lord Holland. 
15. Keen; sharp; easily penetrating: as, the 
fine edge of a razor ; a fine point, as of a needle 
or a thorn. 
What /me chisel 
Could ever yet cut breath '! Shak., W. T., v. 3. 
2222 
Which [treasure] he will not every hour survey, 
For blunting the fine point of seldom pleasure. 
Shak., Sonnets, Iii. 
Don't put too fine a point to your wit, for fear it should 
get blunted. Cervantes, The Little Gypsy (trans.). 
\fine entrance is a sharp under- water part of the fore- 
body of a ship. llamersly. 
16f. Sheer; mere; pure; absolute: in the old 
phrase fine force. 
Longe lasted that strife but lelli too knowe, 
By fin force of his fight Philip it winnes. 
Alisaunder of Macedoine (E. E. T. S.), L 128. 
The saisnes were so many and so thikke that of fin force 
thei made hym to remeve fro the brigge in to the playn 
feelde. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), if. 249. 
Fine arts. Seeor<2. Fineasa fiddle, veryflne; high- 
strung; handsome. [Colloq.] 
The horses are at the livery-stable while we have no 
pastor. Splendid animals they are, too, fine as fiddles, 
gentle as kittens. W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 169. 
Fine as flvepence, very smartly or gayly dressed. [Col- 
loq.] 
Be not, Jug, as a man would say, finer than fivepenct, 
or more proud than a peacock. 
Grim the Collier of Croydon, ii. 
Fine casting, (a) A casting of special excellence, either 
for its artistic design, or for the soundness and homogene- 
ousness or other characteristic of the material of which it 
is composed, (o) A casting from a mold in the preparation 
of which special care has been taken. See figure-casting. 
Fine Stuff, selected lime slacked in water, evaporated 
to the proper consistency, and used as a slip-coat to cover 
the previous coarser coats. Mixed with plaster of Paris, 
and sometimes with fine sand, it forms a finishing coat. 
To draw it fine. See draw. to train fine, in sporting 
language, to reduce (the body) to an effective condition by 
training ; figuratively, to discipline thoroughly, as the in- 
tellectual powers. 
A certain strain and a threat of latent anger in the ex- 
pression, like that of a man trained too fine and harassed 
with perpetual vigilance. R. L. Stevenson, Pastoral. 
fine 2 (fin), r. ; pret. and pp. fined, ppr. fining. [< 
ME. finen (= MHG. finen = Icel. fina), refine, 
purify, < fin, fine, fine, pure: see"/ie 2 , a. Cf. 
affine* and refine.] I. trans. 1. To make fine 
or pure; purify; clarify; refine: as, to fine gold 
or silver; to fine wine. 
As gold . . . 
Semes fyned clene ynoghe til mans sight, 
Whar [were] it put in fire to fyn mare, 
Yhit suld it leve sum dros thare. 
Hatnpole, Prick of Conscience, 1. 3336. 
Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold 
where they fine. it. Job xxviii. 1. 
Blow, blow, sweet winds, O blow away 
All vapours from the fined air. 
Chapman, Mask of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn 
[(song). 
Clarifying the beer by such means as isinglass and gela- 
tine is also called fining the beer. 
Thawring, Beer (trans.), p. 688. 
After being racked and/Sued, the produce of the differ- 
ent vineyards is now ready for mixing together. 
De Colange, Diet., I. 137. 
2. To make fine or slender; make less coarse : 
as, to fine grass. 3. To change by impercep- 
tible degrees ; cause to pass by fine gradations 
to another or more perfect state. [Bare.J 
I oftener sate at home 
On evenings, watching how they fined themselves 
With gradual conscience to a perfect night. 
Mrs. Brmtmimj, Aurora Leigh, vii. 
II. intrans. 1. To become fine or pure ; be- 
come clear, as by depositing sediment: often 
followed by down. 
The ale hadn't had time to fine down, but it would be 
as clear as a diamond . . . tomorrow. 
T. Hughes, Scouring of the White Horse. 
2. To become fine or thin; melt or fade. 
The tog fined away to the windward. 
W. C. Russell, Jack's Courtship, xxxiv. 
The most unwieldy-looking animals often fine down into 
the best shapes. 
Dogs of Great Britain and America, p. 204. 
fine 2 (fin), adr. \_<fine2,a.~\ 1. Finely; well: 
as, I wad like fine to do it. [Scotch.] 2. 
Delicately; cautiously. 
To fish fine and far off is the first and principal rule for 
trout-angling. CoKon, in Walton's Angler, ii. 242. 
fine 3 (fe'ne), n. [It., end, = E.finel.] Inmusical 
notation, the word indicating the end of a re- 
peated section, whether da capo or dal segno ; 
also, the end of a composition in several sec- 
tions. 
fine-arch (fin'arch), n. The smaller fritting- 
furnace of a glass-house. E. H. Kniglit. 
fine-cut (fin'kut), a. Cut into fine pieces or 
strips : as, fine-cut chewing-tobacco. 
finedraw (fin'dra), v. t. ; pret. finedrew, pp. fine- 
drawn, ppr. finedrawing. 1. To sew up, as a 
rent, by drawing the edges of the fabric to- 
gether with a fine thread, in such a manner as 
to restore the pattern if there is any. See fine- 
drawing. 
fine-rolls 
It was in my best pair of kerseymeres, but, thanks to 
the skilful little seamstress, I got them finedrawn, and 
thut without any inconvenient delay. 
Mai-ryat, Peter Simple. 
2. To draw out to extreme fineness, as wire: 
commonly in the past participle. 
finedrawer (fin'dra"er), n. A person especially 
employed to do finedrawing, as in the manu- 
facture of tapestry, where many are employed 
in uniting the separate pieces of which large 
tapestries are made. 
finedrawing (fin'dra/ing), n. 1. A method of 
darning in which the edgesof a rent are brought 
together and the needle is passed through from 
one to the other at about half the thickness of 
the stuff in such a manner as to restore the 
pattern. 2. In cloth-manuf., a finishing pro- 
cess in which the cloth is exposed to a strong 
light, and any minute hole or break is repaired 
by introducing, with a needle, sound yarns in 
place of the defective ones. 3. In tapestry- 
manuf., the process of sewing together the dif- 
ferent pieces separately manufactured. 
fine-drawn (fin'dran), p. a.. Drawn out to ex- 
treme fineness or tenuity, as wire ; hence, fig- 
uratively, drawn out with too much subtlety: 
as, fine-drawn conclusions. 
fineer 1 (fi-ner'), v. i. [< MD.fijnereu (= MLG./e- 
neren, pheneren), make money, acquire wealth, 
in form like fijneren, refine, purify, but with 
sense due to fijnancic, money, wealth, finance, 
< F. finance, finance: see finance.] To get 
goods on credit by artifice. See the extract. 
The second method of running into debt is called fineer- 
ing; which is getting goods made up in such a fashion as 
to be unfit for every other purchaser; and if the trades- 
man refuses to give them upon credit, then threaten to 
leave them upon his hands. 
Goldsmith, Ordinary of Newgate. 
fineer 2 t (fi-ner'), r. t. An obsolete variant of 
t'cneer. 
fine-fingered (fin'fing'gerd), a. Delicate in 
workmanship ; expert at fine work. Spenser. 
finelesst (fm'les), a. [< fine* + -less.] End- 
less; inexhaustible. 
Riches, fineless, is as poor as winter 
To him that ever fears he shall be poor. 
SAa*., Othello, ill. 3. 
finely (fin'H), adv. [< ME. finliche (= MLG. 
finliken = OHG. finlihho) ; <fine^ + -ly%.] In a 
fine manner, in any sense of the word fine; 
admirably; elegantly; showily; delicately; sen- 
sitively; adroitly; subtlely; minutely; thinly; 
lightly: as, a picture finely painted; a stuff /I'/ie- 
ly wrought; flour /we/aground; a thought fine- 
ly expressed. 
Let mee be proued as Prince in pres where I wend, 
And fende mee finliche well to fonde my strength. 
AKsaunder of Macedoine (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1201. 
Spirits are not finely touch'd 
But to fine issues. Shak., M. for M., 1. 1 
My Nan shall be the queen of all the fairies, 
Finely attired in a robe of white. 
Shak.,M. W. of W., iv. 6. 
It is AS finely situated as any Rectory can be, for it is 
about the Midway 'twixt Oxford and London. 
Homll, Letters, I. v. 15. 
The life of these men is finely described in holy writ by 
"the path of an arrow," which is immediately closed up 
and lost. Addison, Thoughts in Westminster Abbey. 
fineness (fin'nes), . 1. The state or quality 
of being fine, in any sense. 
He sent, . . . 
With some pretext of fineness in the meal 
To save the offence of charitable, flour 
From his tall mill. Tennyson, Enoch Ardcn. 
2. Specifically, the quantity of pure metal in 
alloys expressed by number of parts in 1,000. 
Here's the note 
How much your chain weighs to the utmost carat ; 
The fineness of the gold, and chargeful fashion. 
Shak.,C. of E., iv. 1. 
3f. Finesse; subtlety. 
He promised 
To use some holy and religious finenesi, 
To this good end. Massinger, The Renegade, iv. 1. 
This is the artificlalest peece of fineness to perswade 
Men to be Slaves that the wit of Court could have invented. 
Milton, Eikonoklastes, iv. 
He did the devil more service in this fineness of under- 
mining than all the open battery of the ten great rams of 
persecution. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), II. 148. 
fine-nosed (fin'nozd), a. Having a keen or deli- 
cate sense of smell. 
The monks themselves were too fine-nosed to dabble in 
tan-fatts. FiUler, Ch. Hist., VI. ii. i. 
finer (fi'ner), n. [< ME. fyner ; < fine*, v., + 
-er 1 .] One who refines or purifies ; a refiner. 
Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come 
forth a vessel for the finer. Prov. xxv. 4. 
fine-rolls (fin'rolz), n. ]>1. In England, from 
the reign of John to that of Charles I., ac- 
