Fine, fīn, adj. excellent: beautiful: not coarse or heavy: subtle: thin: slender: exquisite: nice: delicate: overdone: showy: splendid: striking or remarkable (often ironically): pure, refined: consisting of small particles; sharp, keen.—v.t. to make fine: to refine: to purify: to change by imperceptible degrees.—adv. (Scot.) for finely, well.—v.t. Fine′-draw, to draw or sew up a rent so finely that it is not seen.—p.adj. Fine′-drawn, drawn out too finely.—adj. Fine′ish, somewhat fine.—adv. Fine′ly.—ns. Fine′ness; Fin′er (same as Refiner); Fin′ery, splendour, fine or showy things: a place where anything is fined or refined: a furnace for making iron malleable.—adjs. Fine′-spok′en, using fine phrases; Fine′-spun, finely spun out: artfully contrived.—Fine arts, as painting, sculpture, music, those chiefly concerned with the beautiful—opp. to the Useful or Industrial arts. [Fr.,—L. finitus, finished, from finīre, to finish, finis, an end.]
Fine, fīn, n. a composition: a sum of money imposed as a punishment.—v.t. to impose a fine on: to punish by fine: (Shak.) to pledge or pawn.—adj. Fine′less (Shak.), endless.—In fine, in conclusion. [Low L. finis, a fine—L. finis, an end.]
Fineer, fi-nēr′, v.i. to get goods on credit by fraudulent artifice. [Prob. Dut.; cog. with Finance.]
Finesse, fi-nes′, n. subtlety of contrivance: artifice: an endeavour by a player holding (say) queen and ace to take the trick with the lower card.—v.i. to use artifice.—ns. Fines′ser; Fines′sing. [Fr.]
Finger, fing′gėr, n. one of the five terminal parts of the hand: a finger-breadth: skill in the use of the hand or fingers: execution in music.—v.t. to handle or perform with the fingers: to pilfer: to toy or meddle with.—v.i. to use lightly with the fingers, as a musical instrument.—ns. Fing′er-al′phabet, a deaf and dumb alphabet; Fing′er-board, the board, or part of a musical instrument, on which the keys for the fingers are placed; Fing′er-bowl, -glass, a bowl for holding the water used to cleanse the fingers after a meal; Fing′er-breadth, the breadth of a finger, the fourth part of a palm, forming 1⁄16 of a foot.—adj. Fing′ered, having fingers, or anything like fingers.—ns. Fing′er-grass, grass of genus Digitaria; Fing′er-hole, a hole in the side of the tube of a flute, &c., capable of being closed by the player's finger to modify the pitch of tone; Fing′ering, act or manner of touching with the fingers, esp. a musical instrument: a thick woollen yarn for stockings; Fing′erling, a very diminutive being: the parr; Fing′er-mark, a mark, esp. a soil made by the finger; Fing′er-plate, a thin plate of metal or porcelain laid along the edge of a door at the handle, to prevent soiling by the hand; Fing′er-post, a post with a finger pointing, for directing passengers to the road; Fing′er-stall, a covering of leather for protecting the finger.—Finger-and-toe (see Anbury).—A finger in the pie, a share in the doing of anything, often of vexatious meddling; Have at one's finger-ends, to be perfect master of a subject; Have one's fingers all thumbs, to have awkward fingers. [A.S. finger; Ger. finger.]
Finial, fin′i-al, n. the bunch of foliage, &c., at the termination of the pinnacles, gables, spires, &c., in Gothic architecture. [From L. finīre—finis.]
Finical, fin′i-kal, adj. affectedly fine or precise in trifles: nice: foppish.—n. Finical′ity, state of being finical: something finical.—adv. Fin′ically.—ns. Fin′icalness, the quality of being finical: foppery; Fin′icking, fussiness and fastidiousness.—adjs. Fin′icking, Fin′ikin, particular about trifles.
Fining, fīn′ing, n. process of refining or purifying.—n. Fin′ing-pot, a pot or vessel used in refining.
Finis, fī′nis, n. the end: conclusion. [L.]