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Webster 1913 Edition

Fine

Fine

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Fined
(fīnd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Fining
.]
[From
Fine
,
Adj.
]
1.
To make fine; to refine; to purify, to clarify;
as, to
fine
gold
.
It hath been
fined
and refined by . . . learned men.
Hobbes.
2.
To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.; as. to fine the soil.
L. H. Bailey.
3.
To change by fine gradations; as
(Naut.)
, to fine down a ship’s lines, to diminish her lines gradually.
I often sate at home
On evenings, watching how they
fined
themselves
With gradual conscience to a perfect night.
Browning.

Fine

(fīn)
,
Noun.
[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.
Is this the
fine
of his fines?
Shakespeare
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.
(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.
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
,
Noun.
, 4. –
In fine
,
in conclusion; by way of termination or summing up.

Fine

,
Verb.
T.
[From
Fine
,
Noun.
]
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
.

Fine

,
Verb.
I.
To pay a fine. See
Fine
,
Noun.
, 3
(b)
.
[R.]
Men
fined
for the king's good will; or that he would remit his anger; women
fined
for leave to marry.
Hallam.

Fine

,
Verb.
T.
&
I.
[OF.
finer
, F.
finir
. See
Finish
,
Verb.
T.
]
To finish; to cease; or to cause to cease.
[Obs.]

Webster 1828 Edition

Fine

FINE

,
Adj.
1.
Small; thin; slender; minute; of very small diameter; as a fine thread; fine silk; a fine hair. We say also, fine sand, fine particles.
2.
Subtil; thin; tenuous; as, fine spirits evaporate; a finer medium opposed to a grosser.
3.
Thin; keep; smoothly sharp; as the fine edge of a razor.
4.
Made of fine threads; not coarse; as fine linen or cambric.
5.
Clear; pure; free from feculence or foreign matter; as fine gold or silver; wine is not good till fine.
6.
Refined.
Those things were too fine to be fortunate, and succeed in all parts.
7.
Nice; delicate; perceiving or discerning minute beauties or deformities; as a fine taste; a fine sense.
8.
Subtil; artful; dextrous. [See Finess.]
9.
Subtil; sly; fraudulent.
10.
Elegant; beautiful in thought.
To call the trumpet by the name of the metal was fine.
11.
Very handsome; beautiful with dignity.
The lady has a fine person, or a fine face.
12.
Accomplished; elegant in manners. He was one of the finest gentlemen of his age.
13.
Accomplished in learning; excellent; as a fine scholar.
14.
Excellent; superior; brilliant or acute; as a man of fine genius.
15.
Amiable; noble; ingenuous; excellent; as a man of a fine mind.
16.
Showy; splendid; elegant; as a range of fine buildings; a fine house or garden; a fine view.
17.
Ironically, worthy of contemptuous notice; eminent for bad qualities.
That same knave, Ford, her husband, has the finest mad devil of jealousy in him, Master Brook, that ever governed frenzy.
Fine Arts or polite arts, are the arts which depend chiefly on the labors of the mind or imagination, and whose object is pleasure; as poetry, music, painting and sculpture.
The uses of this word are so numerous and indefinite, as to preclude a particular definition of each. In general, fine, in popular language, expresses whatever is excellent, showy or magnificent.

FINE

,
Noun.
[This word is the basis of finance, but I have not found it, in its simple form, in any modern language, except the English. The word seems to be the L. finis, and the application of it to pecuniary compensation seems to have proceeded from its feudal use, in the transfer of lands, in which a final agreement or concord was made between the lord and his vassal.]
1.
In a feudal sense, a final agreement between persons concerning lands or rents, or between the lord and his vassal, prescribing the conditions on which the latter should hold his lands.
2.
A sum of money paid to the lord by his tenant, for permission to alienate or transfer his lands to another. This in England was exacted only from the king's tenants in capite.
3.
A sum of money paid to the king or state by way of penalty for an offense; a mulet; a pecuniary punishment. Fines are usually prescribed by statute, for the several violations of law; or the limit is prescribed, beyond which the judge cannot impose a fine for a particular offense.
In fine. [L. in and finis.] In the end or conclusion; to conclude; to sum up all.

FINE

,
Verb.
T.
[See Fine, the adjective.]
1.
To clarify; to refine; to purify; to defecate; to free from feculence or foreign matter; as, to fine wine.
[This is the most general use of this word.]
2.
To purify, as a metal; as, to fine gold or silver. In this sense, we now generally use refine; but fine is proper.
Job 28. Prov. 17.
3.
To make less coarse; as, to fine grass. [Not used.]
4.
To decorate; to adorn. [Not in use.]

FINE

,
Verb.
T.
[See Fine, the noun.]
1.
To impose on one a pecuniary penalty, payable to the government, for a crime or breach of law; to set a fine on by judgment of a court; to punish by fine. The trespassers were fined ten dollars and imprisoned a month.
2.
v.i. To pay a fine. [Not used.]

Definition 2024

fine

fine

See also: finé and fíne

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /faɪn/,
  • Rhymes: -aɪn
  • (Tasmanian) IPA(key): /fæːn/

Adjective

fine ‎(comparative finer, superlative finest)

  1. (heading) Of subjective quality.
    1. Of superior quality.
      The tree frog that they encountered was truly a fine specimen.  Only a really fine wine could fully complement Lucía's hand-made pasta.‎
      • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:
        "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there. […]."
    2. (informal) Being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory.
      "How are you today?" "Fine."  "Will this one do? It's got a dent in it" "Yeah, it'll be fine, I guess."  "It's fine with me if you stay out late, so long as you're back by three."‎
      • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 3, in The Celebrity:
        Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.
    3. (informal) Good-looking, attractive.
      That man is so fine that I'd jump into his pants without a moment's hesitation.‎
      • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 10, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
        It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
    4. Subtle, delicately balanced.
      • The Independent
        The fine distinction between lender of last resort and a bail-out […]
    5. (obsolete) Showy; overdecorated.
      • Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)
        He gratified them with occasional […] fine writing.
    6. Delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; dexterous.
      • Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
        The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!
      • John Dryden (1631-1700)
        The nicest and most delicate touches of satire consist in fine raillery.
      • Thomas Gray (1716-1771)
        He has as fine a hand at picking a pocket as a woman.
  2. (heading) Of objective quality.
    1. Of a particular grade of quality, usually between very good and very fine, and below mint.
      The small scratch meant that his copy of X-Men #2 was merely fine when it otherwise would have been near mint.‎
    2. (of weather) Sunny and not raining.
    3. (expression) "An answer often used to cover an unnecessary explanation, rather to avoid conflict or an argument." Saying "I'm fine usually indicates that the person is okay when that person is actually not okay.
      • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 23, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
        If the afternoon was fine they strolled together in the park, very slowly, and with pauses to draw breath wherever the ground sloped upward. The slightest effort made the patient cough.
    4. Consisting of especially minute particulate; made up of particularly small pieces.
      Grind it into a fine powder.   When she touched the artifact, it collapsed into a heap of fine dust.‎
    5. Particularly slender; especially thin, narrow, or of small girth.
      The threads were so fine that you had to look through a magnifying glass to see them.‎
    6. Made of slender or thin filaments.
      They protected themselves from the small parasites with a fine wire mesh.‎
    7. Having a (specified) proportion of pure metal in its composition.
      coins nine tenths fine‎
  3. (cricket) Behind the batsman and at a small angle to the line between the wickets.
    […] to nudge it through the covers (or tickle it down to fine leg) for a four […]‎
  4. (obsolete) Subtle; thin; tenuous.
    • Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
      The eye standeth in the finer medium and the object in the grosser.
Synonyms
Antonyms
  • (made up of particularly small pieces): coarse
  • (made of slender or thin filaments): coarse
Translations

Adverb

fine ‎(comparative more fine, superlative most fine)

  1. expression of agreement
  2. well, nicely, in a positive way
    Everything worked out fine.
  3. (dated, dialect, colloquial) Finely; elegantly; delicately.
  4. (pool, billiards) In a manner so that the driven ball strikes the object ball so far to one side as to be barely deflected, the object ball being driven to one side.
Synonyms
Translations

Noun

fine ‎(plural fines)

  1. Fine champagne; French brandy.
    • 1926, Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, Scribner 2003, page 14:
      We had dined at l'Avenue's, and afterward went to the Café de Versailles for coffee. We had several fines after the coffee, and I said I must be going.
    • 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber 2007, page 18:
      He refilled his glass. ‘The fine is very good,’ he said.
  2. (usually in the plural) something that is fine; fine particles
    • They filtered silt and fines out of the soil.
Usage notes

Particularly used in plural as fines of ground coffee beans in espresso making.

See also

Verb

fine ‎(third-person singular simple present fines, present participle fining, simple past and past participle fined)

  1. (transitive) to make finer, purer, or cleaner; to purify or clarify.
    to fine gold
    • Hobbes
      It hath been fined and refined by […] learned men.
  2. (intransitive) to become finer, purer, or cleaner.
  3. To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.
    to fine the soil
    (Can we find and add a quotation of L. H. Bailey to this entry?)
  4. To change by fine gradations.
    to fine down a ship's lines, i.e. to diminish her lines gradually
    • Browning
      I often sate at home / On evenings, watching how they fined themselves / With gradual conscience to a perfect night.
  5. (transitive) to clarify (wine and beer) by filtration.
  6. (intransitive, dated) To become gradually fine; to diminish; to dwindle (with away, down, or off).
    • W. C. Russel
      I watched her [the ship] […] gradually fining down in the westward until I lost sight of her hull.
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations

Derived terms

Related terms

Etymology 2

Old French fin ‎(“end”), from Medieval Latin finis ‎(“a payment in settlement or tax”)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /faɪn/,

Noun

fine ‎(plural fines)

  1. A fee levied as punishment for breaking the law.
    The fine for jay-walking has gone from two dollars to thirty in the last fifteen years.
    • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:
      The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood.
Synonyms
Translations

Verb

fine ‎(third-person singular simple present fines, present participle fining, simple past and past participle fined)

  1. (transitive) To issue a fine as punishment to (someone).
    She was fined a thousand dollars for littering, but she appealed.
  2. (intransitive) To pay a fine.
    • Hallam
      Men fined for the king's good will; or that he would remit his anger; women fined for leave to marry.
Synonyms
Translations

Related terms

Etymology 3

From Italian fine ("end").

Pronunciation

  • enPR: fē'nā, IPA(key): /ˈfiːneɪ/

Noun

fine ‎(plural fines)

  1. (music) The end of a musical composition.
  2. (music) The location in a musical score that indicates the end of the piece, particularly when the piece ends somewhere in the middle of the score due to a section of the music being repeated.
Usage notes

This word is virtually never used in speech and therefore essentially confined to musical notation.

Derived terms

Etymology 4

Old French finer, French finir. See finish (transitive verb).

Verb

fine ‎(third-person singular simple present fines, present participle fining, simple past and past participle fined)

  1. (obsolete, intransitive) To finish; to cease.
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To cause to cease; to stop.

Noun

fine ‎(plural fines)

  1. (obsolete) End; conclusion; termination; extinction.
    • Spenser
      to see their fatal fine
    • Shakespeare
      Is this the fine of his fines?
  2. A final agreement concerning lands or rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Spelman to this entry?)
  3. (Britain, 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.

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: evening · ground · understand · #426: fine · law · show · terms

Anagrams

Asturian

Verb

fine

  1. first-person singular present subjunctive of finar
  2. third-person singular present subjunctive of finar

Danish

Adjective

fine

  1. definite of fin
  2. plural of fin

Esperanto

Adverb

fine

  1. finally, at last
  2. in the final analysis, when all's said and done

French

Adjective

fine

  1. feminine singular of fin

Noun

fine f ‎(plural fines)

  1. (typography) thin space, non-breakable space
  2. a number of high grade French brandies (usually AOC certified)

Futuna-Aniwa

Noun

fine

  1. woman, female (of any sort:)
    fine fau : young woman
    tiana fine : his wife
    tiona fine : his daughter
    fine riki : mistress

References

  • Arthur Capell, Futuna-Aniwa Dictionary, with Grammatical Introduction (1984)

Ido

Adverb

fine

  1. finally

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish fine, from Proto-Celtic *weniyā ‎(“family”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- ‎(“desire”); compare Old English wine ‎(“friend”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈfʲɪnʲə/

Noun

fine f ‎(genitive singular fine, nominative plural finte)

  1. family group

Declension

Derived terms

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
fine fhine bhfine
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Italian

Etymology

From Latin fīnis.

Pronunciation

Adjective

fine m, f ‎(masculine and feminine plural fini)

  1. thin
  2. fine
  3. refined

Synonyms

Adjective

fine

  1. feminine plural of fino

Noun

fine f ‎(plural fini)

  1. end

Synonyms

Antonyms

Noun

fine m ‎(plural fini)

  1. aim, purpose, end
    il fine giustifica i mezzi - the ends justifies the means

Synonyms

Related terms

Anagrams

Latin

Noun

fīne

  1. ablative singular of fīnis

References

  • fine in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish faigen ‎(“sheath, scabbard”), from Latin vāgīna.

Noun

fine f

  1. quiver
  2. sheath, scabbard
  3. ****

Synonyms

  • cuinnag
  • pihtt, pitt

North Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian finda, which derives from from Proto-Germanic *finþaną. Cognates include Föhr-Amrum North Frisian finj and West Frisian fine.

Verb

fine

  1. (Mooring Dialect) to find

Conjugation

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

fine

  1. definite singular of fin
  2. plural form of fin

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

fine

  1. definite singular of fin
  2. plural form of fin

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *weniyā.

Noun

fine f

  1. family, kin, group of people of common descent
  2. clan, tribe, race

Inflection

Feminine iā-stem
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive
Dative
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
  • H = triggers aspiration
  • L = triggers lenition
  • N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

References

  • “fine” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Portuguese

Verb

fine

  1. first-person singular present subjunctive of finar
  2. third-person singular present subjunctive of finar
  3. third-person singular imperative of finar

Romanian

Etymology

From Italian fine, and partly French fin.

Noun

fine f ‎(uncountable)

  1. (literary) end

Synonyms

Derived terms

  • în fine

Spanish

Verb

fine

  1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of finir.
  2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of finir.
  3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present indicative form of finir.

Swedish

Adjective

fine

  1. absolute definite natural masculine form of fin.

Etymology

From Middle English fin, from Old French fin ‎(“fine, minute, exact”), probably, from Latin finitus ‎(“literally finished (used as an adjective by Cicero, of words, well rounded)”), past participle of fīnīre ‎(“to limit, bound, define, terminate, finish”), from finis ‎(“a limit, end”).

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