Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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. أَفَنَ 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.