fine

1. 1

   Senses referring to subjective quality.; 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.
2. 2

   Senses referring to subjective quality.; Impressively bad, inappropriate, or unsatisfactory.ironic

   • You're a fine one to talk about laziness.
   • Here's another fine mess you've gotten us into.
3. 3

   Senses referring to subjective quality.; Being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory; having one's well-being be no cause for concern.informal

   • How are you today? – Fine.
   • Will this one do? It's got a dent in it. – Yeah, it'll be fine, I guess.
4. 4

   Senses referring to subjective quality.; Good-looking, attractive.informal

   • That man is so fine that I'd jump into his pants without a moment's hesitation.
5. 5

   Senses referring to subjective quality.; Subtle, delicately balanced or discriminated.

   • In any case, Feinsilver’s nomenclatural suggestions and fine distinctions did not enjoy widespread adoption.
6. 6

   Senses referring to subjective quality.; Showy; overdecorated.obsolete

   • 1853, Matthew Arnold, Preface to The Poems of Matthew Arnold They will permit the poet to select any action he pleases, and to suffer that action to go as it will, provided he gratifies them with occasional bursts of fine writing
7. 7

   Senses referring to subjective quality.; Delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; dexterous.

   • Thou haſt ſpoken all alreadie, vnleſſe thou canſt ſay they are married, but thou art too fine in thy euidence, therefore ſtand aſide.
   • The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!
8. 8

   Senses referring to subjective quality.; An answer often used to cover an unnecessary explanation, rather to avoid conflict or an argument. Saying "I'm fine" can be used to avoid inquiry when the speaker is not really okay.

   • Do you want to talk about what happened? – [sharply, with annoyance or discomfort] I'm fine!
9. 9

   Senses referring to objective quality.; 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”.
10. 10

    Senses referring to objective quality.; Sunny and not raining.

    • 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.

1. 1

   Well, nicely, in a positive, agreeable way.

   • Everything worked out fine.
2. 2

   Finely; elegantly; delicately.colloquialdateddialectal

3. 3

   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.

1. 1

   Expression of (typically) reluctant agreement.

2. 2

   Expression of (typically) reluctant acceptance, without further argument or discussion, of another person's viewpoint.

1. 1

   Fine champagne; French brandy.

   • 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.
   • ‘Darling,’ Lois told her, ‘don't get depressed. Have another fine.’
2. 2

   Something that is fine; fine particles.plural-normally

   • They filtered silt and fines out of the soil.

1. 1

   To make finer, purer, or cleaner; to purify or clarify.transitive

   • to fine gold
   • 1666 (written), 1681 (published), Thomas Hobbes, A Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England It hath been fined and refined by […] learned men.
2. 2

   To become finer, purer, or cleaner.intransitive

3. 3

   To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.

   • The tools to be used for this surface tillage are those that comminute or fine the soil most completely without compacting it or leaving it in ridges or in furrows
4. 4

   To change by fine gradations.

   • to fine down a ship's lines, i.e. to diminish her lines gradually
5. 5

   To clarify (wine and beer) by filtration.transitive

6. 6

   To become gradually fine; to diminish; to dwindle (with away, down, or off).datedintransitive

   • I watched her [the ship] […] gradually fining down in the westward until I lost sight of her hull.

1. 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.
2. 2

   Money paid by a tenant on the commencement of a tenancy so that their rent may be small or nominal.obsolete

3. 3

   A drink that must be taken during a meal or as part of a drinking game, following an announcement that anyone who has done some (usually outrageous) deed is to be fined (similar to I have never; commonly associated with swaps; very similar to a sconce at Oxford University, though a fine is the penal

   • Near-synonym: (Oxford University slang) sconce
   • Fine if you've…

syn. amercement

1. 1

   To issue a fine as punishment to (someone).transitive

   • She was fined a thousand dollars for littering, but she appealed.
2. 2

   To pay a fine.intransitive

   • Men fined for the king's good will; or that he would remit his anger; women fined for leave to marry.

syn. amerce

1. 1

   The end of a musical composition.

2. 2

   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.

1. 1

   To finish; to cease.intransitiveobsolete

2. 2

   To cause to cease; to stop.obsoletetransitive

1. 1

   End; conclusion; termination; extinction.obsolete

   • And secret feare, to see their fatall fine
   • Is this the fine of his fines?
2. 2

   A final agreement concerning lands or rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal.

   • To cause them to pay more rent or a gretter fyne than they haue ben acustomed to do in tyme past.
3. 3

   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.UK