[syn: finely, fine, delicately, exquisitely]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
fine \fine\ (f[imac]n), a. [Compar. finer (f[imac]n"[~e]r);
superl. finest.] [F. fin, LL. finus fine, pure, fr. L.
finire to finish; cf. finitus, p. p., finished, completed
(hence the sense accomplished, perfect.) See Finish, and
cf. Finite.]
1. Finished; brought to perfection; refined; hence, free from
impurity; excellent; superior; elegant; worthy of
admiration; accomplished; beautiful.
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The gain thereof [is better] than fine gold. --Prov.
iii. 14.
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A cup of wine that's brisk and fine. --Shak.
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Not only the finest gentleman of his time, but one
of the finest scholars. --Felton.
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To soothe the sick bed of so fine a being [Keats].
--Leigh Hunt.
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2. Aiming at show or effect; loaded with ornament;
overdressed or overdecorated; showy.
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He gratified them with occasional . . . fine
writing. --M. Arnold.
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3. Nice; delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; skillful;
dexterous.
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The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! --Pope.
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The nicest and most delicate touches of satire
consist in fine raillery. --Dryden.
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He has as fine a hand at picking a pocket as a
woman. --T. Gray.
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4. Not coarse, gross, or heavy; as:
(a) Not gross; subtile; thin; tenous.
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The eye standeth in the finer medium and the
object in the grosser. --Bacon.
(b) Not coarse; comminuted; in small particles; as, fine
sand or flour.
(c) Not thick or heavy; slender; filmy; as, a fine thread.
(d) Thin; attenuate; keen; as, a fine edge.
(e) Made of fine materials; light; delicate; as, fine
linen or silk.
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5. Having (such) a proportion of pure metal in its
composition; as, coins nine tenths fine.
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6. (Used ironically.)
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Ye have made a fine hand, fellows. --Shak.
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Note: Fine is often compounded with participles and
adjectives, modifying them adverbially; a, fine-drawn,
fine-featured, fine-grained, fine-spoken, fine-spun,
etc.
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Fine arch (Glass Making), the smaller fritting furnace of a
glasshouse. --Knight.
Fine arts. See the Note under Art.
Fine cut, fine cut tobacco; a kind of chewing tobacco cut
up into shreds.
Fine goods, woven fabrics of fine texture and quality.
--McElrath.
Fine stuff, lime, or a mixture of lime, plaster, etc., used
as material for the finishing coat in plastering.
To sail fine (Naut.), to sail as close to the wind as
possible.
Syn: Fine, Beautiful.
Usage: When used as a word of praise, fine (being opposed to
coarse) denotes no "ordinary thing of its kind." It is
not as strong as beautiful, in reference to the single
attribute implied in the latter term; but when we
speak of a fine woman, we include a greater variety of
particulars, viz., all the qualities which become a
woman, -- breeding, sentiment, tact, etc. The term is
equally comprehensive when we speak of a fine garden,
landscape, horse, poem, etc.; and, though applied to a
great variety of objects, the word has still a very
definite sense, denoting a high degree of
characteristic excellence.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fine \Fine\, v. i.
To pay a fine. See Fine, n., 3
(b) . [R.]
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Men fined for the king's good will; or that he
would remit his anger; women fined for leave to
marry. --Hallam.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fine \Fine\, v. t. & i. [OF. finer, F. finir. See Finish, v.
t.]
To finish; to cease; or to cause to cease. [Obs.]
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fine \Fine\ (f[imac]n), adv.
1. Finely; well; elegantly; fully; delicately; mincingly.
[Obs., Dial., or Colloq.]
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
2. (Billiards & Pool) In a manner so that the driven ball
strikes the object ball so far to one side as to be
deflected but little, the object ball being driven to one
side.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fine \Fine\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fined (f[imac]nd); p. pr. &
vb. n. Fining.] [From Fine, a.]
1. To make fine; to refine; to purify, to clarify; as, to
fine gold.
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It hath been fined and refined by . . . learned men.
--Hobbes.
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2. To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.;
as. to fine the soil. --L. H. Bailey.
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3. To change by fine gradations; as (Naut.), to fine down a
ship's lines, to diminish her lines gradually.
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I often sate at home
On evenings, watching how they fined themselves
With gradual conscience to a perfect night.
--Browning.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fine \Fine\, v. t. [From Fine, n.]
To impose a pecuniary penalty upon for an offense or breach
of law; to set a fine on by judgment of a court; to punish by
fine; to mulct; as, the trespassers were fined ten dollars.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fine \Fine\ (f[imac]n), n. [OE. fin, L. finis end, also in LL.,
a final agreement or concord between the lord and his vassal;
a sum of money paid at the end, so as to make an end of a
transaction, suit, or prosecution; mulct; penalty; cf. OF.
fin end, settlement, F. fin end. See Finish, and cf.
Finance.]
1. End; conclusion; termination; extinction. [Obs.] "To see
their fatal fine." --Spenser.
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Is this the fine of his fines? --Shak.
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2. A sum of money paid as the settlement of a claim, or by
way of terminating a matter in dispute; especially, a
payment of money imposed upon a party as a punishment for
an offense; a mulct.
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3. (Law)
(a) (Feudal Law) A final agreement concerning lands or
rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal.
--Spelman.
(b) (Eng. Law) A sum of money or price paid for obtaining
a benefit, favor, or privilege, as for admission to a
copyhold, or for obtaining or renewing a lease.
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Fine for alienation (Feudal Law), a sum of money paid to
the lord by a tenant whenever he had occasion to make over
his land to another. --Burrill.
Fine of lands, a species of conveyance in the form of a
fictitious suit compromised or terminated by the
acknowledgment of the previous owner that such land was
the right of the other party. --Burrill. See Concord,
n., 4.
In fine, in conclusion; by way of termination or summing
up.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fine \Fine\ (f[imac]n), v. i.
To become fine (in any one of various senses); as, the ale
will fine; the weather fined.
To fine away, down, off, gradually to become fine; to
diminish; to dwindle.
I watched her [the ship] . . . gradually fining down
in the westward until I lost of her hull. --W. C.
Russel.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
fine
adv 1: an expression of agreement normally occurring at the
beginning of a sentence [syn: very well, fine,
alright, all right, OK]
2: in a delicate manner; "finely shaped features"; "her fine
drawn body" [syn: finely, fine, delicately,
exquisitely]
adj 1: being satisfactory or in satisfactory condition; "an all-
right movie"; "the passengers were shaken up but are all
right"; "is everything all right?"; "everything's fine";
"things are okay"; "dinner and the movies had been fine";
"another minute I'd have been fine" [syn: all right,
fine, o.k., ok, okay, hunky-dory]
2: minutely precise especially in differences in meaning; "a
fine distinction"
3: thin in thickness or diameter; "a fine film of oil"; "fine
hairs"; "read the fine print"
4: characterized by elegance or refinement or accomplishment;
"fine wine"; "looking fine in her Easter suit"; "a fine
gentleman"; "fine china and crystal"; "a fine violinist";
"the fine hand of a master"
5: of textures that are smooth to the touch or substances
consisting of relatively small particles; "wood with a fine
grain"; "fine powdery snow"; "fine rain"; "batiste is a
cotton fabric with a fine weave"; "covered with a fine film
of dust" [ant: coarse, harsh]
6: free from impurities; having a high or specified degree of
purity; "gold 21 carats fine"
n 1: money extracted as a penalty [syn: fine, mulct,
amercement]
v 1: issue a ticket or a fine to as a penalty; "I was fined for
parking on the wrong side of the street"; "Move your car or
else you will be ticketed!" [syn: ticket, fine]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
512 Moby Thesaurus words for "fine":
Babylonian, Corinthian, OK, Roger, absolutely, abstruse,
accomplished, accurate, acrid, acute, admirable, adulterated,
advantageous, aesthetic, aesthetically appealing, affable,
agreeable, airy, alive and kicking, all right, alright, alrighty,
amen, amerce, amercement, amiable, amicable, amusing, appreciative,
arabesque, aright, as you say, assessment, assuredly, attentive,
attenuate, attenuated, attractive, auspicious, awe-inspiring,
awful, aye, balmy, barbaric, baroque, beauteous, beautiful,
beneficial, benevolent, bitsy, bitty, blissful, bon, bonny, bonzer,
boyish, branny, braw, bright, bright and fair,
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, brilliant, bueno, busy, by all means,
capital, capitally, certainly, chalklike, chalky, champion, charge,
cheerful, chichi, chipper, choice, civilized, clear, close,
cloudless, cogent, comely, commendable, comminute, comminuted,
compatible, complaisant, confiscate, congenial, conscientious,
constant, consummate, cool, cordial, correct, critical, crushed,
cryptic, cultivated, cultured, cut, cute, cutting, da, dainty,
damages, dandy, delicat, delicate, deluxe, demanding, desirable,
detailed, detrital, detrited, diaphanous, differential, dilute,
diluted, direct, discriminate, discriminating, discriminative,
disintegrated, distinctive, distinguishing, distrain, distraint,
distress, double-edged, downy, dry, dulcet, dusty, edged,
efflorescent, elaborate, elegant, en rapport, endowed with beauty,
enigmatic, enjoyable, enjoying health, entertaining, escheat,
escheatment, esoteric, estimable, estreat, ethereal, eupeptic,
even, exact, exacting, exactly, excellent, excellently,
exceptional, exigent, expedient, express, exquisite, extravagant,
eye-filling, fair, fair and pleasant, faithful, famous, famously,
fancy, farinaceous, fastidious, favorable, featheredged, fee,
felicific, felicitous, filamentous, filmy, fine-drawn,
fine-grained, finely, finespun, finical, finicking, finicky,
first-class, first-rate, firsts, fit, fit and fine, flaky,
flamboyant, flimsy, florid, floury, flowerlike, flowery, fluffy,
forfeit, forfeiture, frail, frilly, full of beans, furfuraceous,
fussy, fuzzy, gaseous, gauzy, genial, girlish, glorious,
gone to dust, good, good enough, good-looking, goodly, gossamer,
gossamery, graceful, gracile, gracious, grand, grandiose, grated,
grateful, gratifying, great, ground, hair-splitting, hairline,
hairsplitting, handsome, harmonious, healthful, healthy, hear,
heart-warming, heavy, helpful, high-grade, high-wrought, honeyed,
impalpable, imposing, impressive, in condition, in fine fettle,
in fine whack, in good case, in good health, in good shape,
in health, in high feather, in mint condition, in shape,
in the pink, indeed, indeedy, inerrable, inerrant, infallible,
insubstantial, interesting, itsy-bitsy, ja, just so, keen,
keen-edged, kind, knifelike, labored, lacy, laudable, levigated,
levy, levy a distress, light, likable, loose, lovely, luxuriant,
luxurious, magnificent, mais oui, majestic, masterly, mathematical,
mealy, mellifluous, mellow, meritorious, meticulous,
micrometrically precise, microscopic, milled, minute, misty,
moresque, most assuredly, mulct, narrow, naturally, naturellement,
neat, nice, nicely, noble, obscure, of course, okay, ornate,
ostentatious, oui, outstanding, overelaborate, overelegant,
overlabored, overworked, overwrought, palatial, papery, particular,
peachy, peewee, penalize, penalty, pestled, petty, picturesque,
pinpoint, pleasant, pleasing, pleasurable, pleasure-giving,
pleasureful, plush, pointed, polished, porous, posh, positively,
powdered, powdery, precise, precisely, precisianistic,
precisionistic, pretty, pretty-pretty, prime, princely, profitable,
proud, pubescent, pulchritudinous, pulverant, pulverized,
pulverulent, punctilious, punctual, punishment, quality, quite,
rainless, rare, rarefied, rather, razor-edged, really, recondite,
reduced to powder, refined, regal, religious, religiously exact,
reparation, rewarding, rich, right, righto, rigid, rigorous,
ripping, ritzy, robust, rococo, royal, royally, satin, satiny,
satisfactory, satisfying, scaly, scientific, scientifically exact,
scobicular, scobiform, sconce, scrupulous, scrutinizing, scurfy,
seemly, select, selective, sensitive, sequestrate, set, severe,
sharded, sharp, sheer, shredded, silky, skillful, slender,
slenderish, slight, slight-made, slim, slimmish, slinky, small,
smooth, sophisticated, sound, splendacious, splendid, splendidly,
splendiferous, square, stately, strict, striking, subtile, subtle,
sumptuous, sunny, superb, superfancy, superfine, superior, supreme,
sure, sure thing, surely, svelte, swank, swanky, sweet, swell,
sylphlike, tactful, tax, teeny, teeny-weeny, tenuous, thin,
thin-bodied, thin-set, thin-spun, thinned, thinned-out, thinnish,
threadlike, tiny, to be sure, top-drawer, trifling, triturated,
truly, two-edged, uncompact, uncompressed, undarkened, undeviating,
unerring, unsubstantial, useful, vague, valid, vaporous,
velutinous, velvety, very good, very well, virtuoso, virtuous,
wasp-waisted, watered, watered-down, watery, weak, wee, welcome,
well, well and good, well-made, why yes, willowy, windy, wiredrawn,
wispy, worthy, yea, yeah, yep, yes, yes indeed, yes indeedy,
yes sir, yes sirree
The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):
fine
adj.
[WPI] Good, but not good enough to be cuspy. The word fine is used
elsewhere, of course, but without the implicit comparison to the higher
level implied by cuspy.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
FINE. This word has various significations. It is employed, 1. To mean a sum
of money, which, by judgment of a competent jurisdiction, is required to be
paid for the punishment of an offence. 2. To designate the amount paid by
the tenant, on his entrance, to the lord. 3. To signify a special kind of
conveyance.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
FINE, conveyance, Practice. An amicable composition or agreement of a suit,
either actual or fictitious, by leave of the court, by which the lands in
question become, or are acknowledged to be the right of one of the parties.
Co. Litt. 120; 2 Bl. Com. 349; Bac. Abr. Fines and Recoveries. A fine is so
called, because it puts an end, not only to the suit thus commenced, but
also to all other suits and controversies concerning the same matter. Such
concords, says Doddridge, (Eng. Lawyer, 84, 85,) have been in use in the
civil law, and are called transactions (q.v.) whereof they say thus:
Transactiones sunt de eis quae in controversia sunt, a, lite futura aut
pendente ad certam compositionem reducuntur, dando aliquid vel accipiendo.
Or shorter, thus: Transactio est de re dubia et lite ancipite ne dum ad
finem ducta, non gratuita pactio. It is commonly defined an assurance by
matter of record, and is founded upon a supposed previously existing right,
and upon a writ requiring the party to perform his covenant; although a fine
may be levied upon any writ by which lands may be demanded, charged, or
bound. It has also been defined an acknowledgment on record of a previous
gift or feoffment, and prima facie carries a fee, although it may be limited
to an estate for life or in fee tail. Prest. on Convey. 200, 202, 268, 269 2
Bl. Com. 348-9.
2. The stat. 18 E. I., called modus levandi fines, declares and
regulates the manner in which they should be levied and carried on and that
is as follows: 1. The party to whom the land is conveyed or assured,
commences an action at law against the other, generally an action of
covenant, by suing out of a writ of praecipe, called a writ of covenant,
that the one shall convey the lands to the other, on the breach of which
agreement the action is brought. The suit being thus commenced, then
follows,
2. The licentia concordandi, or leave to compromise the suit. 3. The
concord or agreement itself, after leave obtained by the court; this is
usually an acknowledgment from the deforciants, that the lands in question
are the lands of the complainants. 4. The note of the fine, which is only an
abstract of the writ of covenant, and the concord naming the parties, the
parcels of land, and the agreement. 5. The foot of the fine or the
conclusion of it, which includes the whole matter, reciting the parties,
day, year, and place, and before whom it was acknowledged or levied.
3. Fines thus levied, are of four kinds. 1. What in law French is
called a fine sur cognizance de droit, come ceo que il ad de son done; or a
fine upon the acknowledgment of the right of the cognizee, as that which he
has of the gift of the cognizor. This fine is called a feoffment of record.
2. A fine sur cognizance de droit tantum, or acknowledgment of the right
merely. 3. A fine sur concessit, is where the cognizor, in order to make an
end of disputes, though he acknowledges no precedent right, yet grants to
the consignee an estate de novo, usually for life or years, by way of a
supposed composition. 4. A fine sur done grant et render, which is a double
fine, comprehending the fine sur cognizance de droit come ceo, &c., and the
fine sur concessit; and may be used to convey particular limitations of
estate, and to persons who are strangers, or not named in the writ of the
covenant, whereas the fine sur cognizance de droit come ceo &c., conveys
nothing but an absolute estate either of inheritance, or at least of
freehold. Salk. 340. In this last species of fines, the cognizee, after the
right is acknowledged to be in him, grants back again, or renders to the
cognizor, or perhaps to a stranger some other estate in the premises. 2 Bl.
Com. 348 to 358. See Cruise on Fines; Vin. Abr. Fine; Sheph. Touch. c. 2;
Bac. Ab. Fines and Recoveries; Com. Dig. Fine.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
FINE, criminal law. Pecuniary punishment imposed by a lawful tribunal, upon
a person convicted of crime or misdemeanor. See Shep. Touchs. 2; Bac. Abr.
Fines and Amercements.
2. The amount of the fine is frequently left to the discretion of the
court, who ought to proportion the fine to the offence. To prevent the abuse
of excessive fines, the Constitution of the United States directs that
"excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor
cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." Amendm. to the Constitution, art.
8. See Division of opinion.