The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Refine \Re*fine"\ (r?*f?n"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Refined
   (-find"); p. pr. & vb. n. Refining.] [Pref. re- + fine to
   make fine: cf. F. raffiner.]
   1. To reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from
      impurities; to free from dross or alloy; to separate from
      extraneous matter; to purify; to defecate; as, to refine
      gold or silver; to refine iron; to refine wine or sugar.
      [1913 Webster]

            I will bring the third part through the fire, and
            will refine them as silver is refined. --Zech. xiii.
                                                  9.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To purify from what is gross, coarse, vulgar, inelegant,
      low, and the like; to make elegant or exellent; to polish;
      as, to refine the manners, the language, the style, the
      taste, the intellect, or the moral feelings.
      [1913 Webster]

            Love refines
            The thoughts, and heart enlarges.     --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: To purify; clarify; polish; ennoble.
        [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Refine \Re*fine"\, v. i.
   1. To become pure; to be cleared of feculent matter.
      [1913 Webster]

            So the pure, limpid stream, when foul with stains,
            Works itself clear, and, as it runs, refines.
                                                  --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence.
      [1913 Webster]

            Chaucer refined on Boccace, and mended his stories.
                                                  --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

            But let a lord once own the happy lines,
            How the wit brightens! How the style refines!
                                                  --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To affect nicety or subtilty in thought or language. "He
      makes another paragraph about our refining in
      controversy." --Atterbury.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

refine
    v 1: improve or perfect by pruning or polishing; "refine one's
         style of writing" [syn: polish, refine, fine-tune,
         down]
    2: make more complex, intricate, or richer; "refine a design or
       pattern" [syn: complicate, refine, rarify, elaborate]
    3: treat or prepare so as to put in a usable condition; "refine
       paper stock"; "refine pig iron"; "refine oil"
    4: reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; separate from
       extraneous matter or cleanse from impurities; "refine sugar"
       [syn: refine, rectify]
    5: attenuate or reduce in vigor, strength, or validity by
       polishing or purifying; "many valuable nutrients are refined
       out of the foods in our modern diet"
    6: make more precise or increase the discriminatory powers of;
       "refine a method of analysis"; "refine the constant in the
       equation"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

164 Moby Thesaurus words for "refine":
   abate, abrade, abstract, acculturate, advance, ameliorate, amend,
   bate, beautify, better, bolt, boost, bring forward, carve, chisel,
   civilize, clarify, cleanse, clear, colliquate, concentrate,
   convert, cultivate, curtail, decoct, decontaminate, decrassify,
   decrease, deduct, defrost, depreciate, depurate, derogate, detract,
   develop, diminish, disparage, distill, drain, eat away, edify,
   educate, edulcorate, elaborate, elevate, elute, embellish, emend,
   enhance, enlighten, enrich, erode, essentialize, evolve, excite,
   express, extract, fatten, favor, file away, filter, filtrate,
   finish, flux, focus, forward, foster, fuse, go straight, grow,
   harvest, hone, impair, improve, improve upon, infuse, lard, leach,
   lessen, lift, lixiviate, machine, make an improvement,
   make sensitive, mature, meliorate, melt, melt down, mend, mill,
   mine, narrow, nurture, oversimplify, percolate, perfect, polish,
   press out, process, promote, pump, purify, quicken, raise, rear,
   rectify, reduce, reduce to elements, refine upon, reform, remove,
   render, retrench, ripen, round, rub away, run, screen, season,
   sensibilize, sensitize, separate, sharpen, shorten, sieve, sift,
   simplify, sleek, slick, smelt, smooth, soak, socialize,
   spiritualize, steep, stimulate, stir, straighten out, strain,
   streamline, strip down, subduct, sublimate, sublime, subtilize,
   subtract, take away, take from, thaw, thin, thin out, transfigure,
   transform, try, unfreeze, upgrade, uplift, wear away, weed, whet,
   winnow, withdraw, wring, wring out



The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

REFINE

   1. "Research on Knowledge-Based Software Environments at
   Kestrel Institute", D.R. Smith et al, IEEE Trans Soft Eng,
   SE-11(11) (1985).  E-mail: .

   2. Cordell Green et al, Stanford U.  Uses logic to specify and
   evolve programs.  [same as 1?] Reasoning Systems, Inc.
   E-mail: .