Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FINCH, n. [Sax. finc; G. fink; D. vink; It. pincione; W. pinc, fine, gay, a finch.]

A bird. But finch is used chiefly in composition; as, chaffinch, goldfinch. These belong to the genus Fringilla.

FIND, v.t. [pret. and pp. found. Sax. findan; G. finden; D. vinden or vynen; Sw. finna; Dan. finder. This word coincides in origin with the L. venio; but in sense, with invenio. The primary sense is to come to, to rush, to fall on, to meet, to set on; and the Sw. finna is rendered not only by invenire, but by offendere. So in Sp. venir, to rome, and to assault. It is probable therefore that find and fend are from one root. Ar. فَانَ fauna, to come. Class Bn No. 21. See also No. 7.]

1. Literally, to come to; to meet; hence, to discover by the eye; to gain first sight or knowledge of something lost; to recover either by searching for it or by accident: Doth she not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek dilligently, till she find it? and when she hath found it – Luke xv.
2. To meet; to discover something not before seen or known. He saith to him, we have found the Messiah. John i.
3. To obtain by seeking. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find. Matth. vii.
4. To meet with. In woods and forests thou an found. Cowley.
5. To discover or know by experience. The torrid zone is now found habitable. Cowley.
6. To reach; to attain to; to arrive at. Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth life, and few there be that find it. Matth. vii.
7. To discover by study, experiment or trial. Air and water are found to be compound substances. Alchimists long attempted to find the philosopher's stone, but it is not yet found.
8. To gain; to have; as, to find leisure for a visit.
9. To perceive; to observe; to learn. I found his opinions to accord with my own.
10. To catch; to detect. When first found in a lie, talk to him of it as a strange monstrous thing. Locke. In this sense, find is usually followed by out.
11. To meet. In ills their business and their glory find. Cowley.
12. To have; to experience; to enjoy. Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure. Is. viii.
13. To select; to choose; to designate. I have found David my servant. Ps. lxxxix.
14. To discover and declare the truth of disputed facts; to come to a conclusion and decide between parties, as a jury. The jury find a verdict for the plaintif or defendant. They find the accused to be guilty.
15. To determine and declare by verdict. The jury have found a large sum in damages for the plaintif.
16. To establish or pronounce charges alledged to be true. The grand jury have found a bill against the accused, or they find a true bill.
17. To supply; to furnish. Who will find the money or provisions for this expedition? We will find ourselves with provisions and clothing.
18. To discover or gain knowledge of by touching or by sounding. We first sounded and found bottom at the depth of ninety-five fathoms on the Sole bank. N. W. To find one's self, to be; to fare in regard to ease or pain, health or sickness. Pray, sir, how do you find yourself this morning. To find in, to supply; to furnish to provide. He finds his nephew in money, victuals and clothes. To find out, to invent; to discover something before unknown. A man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold – and to find out every device. 2 Chron. ii. #2. To unriddle; to solve; as, to find out the meaning of a parable or an enigma. #3. To discover; to obtain knowledge of what is hidden; as, to find out a secret. #4. To understand; to comprehend. Canst thou by searching find out God? Job xi. #5. To detect; to discover; to bring to light; as, to find out a thief or a theft; to find out a trick. To find fault with, to blame; to censure.

FIND-ER, n.

One who meets or falls on any thing; one that discovers what is lost or is unknown; one who discovers by searching, or by accident.

FIND-FAULT, n.

A censurer; a caviler. Shak.

FIND-FAULT'ING, a.

Apt to censure; captious. Whitlock.

FIND-ING, n.

1. Discovery; the act of discovering.
2. In law, the return of a jury to a bill; a verdict.

FIND-ING, ppr.

Discovering.

FIND-INGS, n. [plur.]

The tools and materials which a journeyman shoemaker is to furnish in his employment.

FIN'DY, a. [Sax. findig, heavy; gefindig, capacious; Dan. fyndig, strong, emphatical, nervous, weighty, from fynd, force, energy, emphasis, strength; probably from crowding, tension, stretching, from find.]

Full; heavy; or firm, solid, substantial. [Obs.] A cold May and a windy, / Makes the barn fat and findy. Old Prov. Junius.

FINE, a. [Fr. fin, whence finesse; Sp. and Port. fino, whence fineza; It. fino, whence finezza; Dan. fiin; Sw. fin; G. fein; D. fyn; hence to refine, The Ir. has fion; and the W. fain, feined, signify rising to a point, as a cone. Ar. أفَنَ afana, to diminish. Class Bn, No. 29.]

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. Bacon.
3. Thin; keen; 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 Bacon.
7. Nice; delicate; perceiving or discerning minute beauties or deformities; as, a fine taste: a fine sense.
8. Subtil; artful; dextrous. [See Finess.] Bacon.
9. Subtil; sly; fraudulent. Hubberd's Tale.
10. Elegant; beautiful in thought. To call the trumpet by the name of the metal was fine. Dryden.
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. Shak. 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, n. [This word is the basis of financé; but I have not found it, in its simple form, in any modern language, except the English. Junius says that ffin, in Cimbric, is a mulct, and ffinio, to fine. 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. See פנה fanah. Class Bn, No. 23.]

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. Spelman.
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. Blackstone.
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. [Fr. enfin; L. in and finis.] In the end or conclusion; to conclude, to sum up all.

FINE, v.t.¹ [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 xxviii. Prov. xvii.
3. To make less coarse; as, to fine grass. [Not used.] Mortimer.
4. To decorate; to adorn. [Not is use.] Shak.

FINE, v.t.² [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.] Oldham.

FIN-ED, pp.

1. Refined; purified defecated.
2. Subjected to a pecuniary penalty.

FINE-DRAW, v.t. [fine and draw.]

To sew up a rent with so much nicety that it is not perceived. Johnson.

FINE-DRAW-ER, n.

One who finedraws.

FINE-DRAW-ING, n.

Rentering; a dextrous or nice sewing up the rents of cloth or stuffs. Encyc.

FINE-FIN-GER-ED, a.

Nice in workmanship; dextrous at fine work. Johnson.

FINE-GRAIN'ED, a.

Having a fine grain.

FINE-LESS, a.

Endless; boundless. [Not used.] Shak.

FINE-LY, adv.

1. In minute parts; as, a substance finely pulverized.
2. To a thin or sharp edge; as, an instrument finely sharpened.
3. Gaily; handsomely; beautifully; with elegance and taste. She was finely attired.
4. With elegance or beauty. Plutarch says very finely, that a man should not allow himself to hate even his enemies; for if you indulge this passion on some occasions, it will rise of itself in others. Addison.
5. With advantage; very favorably; as, a house or garden finely situated.
6. Nicely; delicately; as, a stuff finely wrought.
7. Purely; completely. Clarendon.
8. By way of irony, wretchedly; in a manner deserving of contemptuous notice. He is finely caught in his own snare.

FINE-NESS, n. [Fr. finesse; It. finezza.]

1. Thinness; smallness; slenderness; as, the fineness of a thread or silk. Hence,
2. Consisting of fine threads; as, fine linen.
3. Smallness; minuteness; as, the fineness of sand or particles; the fineness of soil or mold.
4. Clearness; purity; freedom from foreign matter; as, the fineness of wine or other liquor; the fineness of gold.
5. Niceness; delicacy; as, the fineness of taste.
6. Keenness; sharpness; thinness; as, the fineness of an edge.
7. Elegance; beauty; as, fineness of person.
8. Capacity fur delicate or refined conceptions; as, the fineness of genius.
9. Show; splendor; gayety of appearance; elegance; as, the fineness of clothes or dress.
10. Clearness; as, the fineness of complexion.
11. Subtilty; artfulness; ingenuity; as, the fineness of wit.
12. Smoothness. Drayton.

FIN-ER, n.

1. One who refines or purifies. Prov. xxv. 4.
2. adj. Comparative of fine.

FIN-ER-Y, n.

1. Show; splendor; gayety of colors or appearance; as, the finery of a dress.
2. Showy articles of dress; gay clothes, jewels, trinkets, &c.
3. In iron-works, the second forge at the iron-mills. [See Finary.]

FINE-SPOK-EN, a.

Using fine phrases. Chesterfield.