fine

The tree frog that they encountered was truly a fine specimen.

Only a really fine wine could fully complement Lucía's hand-made pasta.

"That's a fine young fellow," said the historiographer of earwigs, to an American who stood next him in the crowd.

1856, L. S. Lavenu, chapter XVII, in Erlesmere; or, Contrasts of Character, volume 1, London: Smith, Elder & Co., page 171:

"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.[…]."

1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

Senses referring to subjective quality.
Of superior quality.

You're a fine one to talk about laziness.

Here's another fine mess you've gotten us into.

A fine romance, with no kisses,
A fine romance, my friend, this is;
We should be like a couple of hot tomatoes,
But you're as cold as yesterday's mashed potatoes.

1936, “A Fine Romance”, in Dorothy Fields (lyrics), Jerome Kern (music), Swing Time (musical film):

(ironic) Impressively bad, inappropriate, or unsatisfactory.

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.

On the surface, everything is fine. The sleek, futuristic spaceship setting is fine (if a little cold), the acting is fine (or better than fine, in Lawrence’s case), the music is fine, the lighting is fine, the editing, the camerawork—all fine.

2016 December 20, Katie Rife, “Passengers strains the considerable charms of Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 2018-04-23:

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.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

(informal) Being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory.

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

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.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

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

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

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

2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 7:

Subtle, delicately balanced or discriminated.

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

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

Senses referring to subjective quality.
Showy; overdecorated.

Thou haſt ſpoken all alreadie, vnleſſe thou canſt ſay they are married, but thou art too fine in thy euidence, therefore ſtand aſide.

c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 253, column 2:

The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!

1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:

The nicest and most delicate touches of satire consist in fine raillery.

c. 1692, John Dryden, Discourse on Satire:

He has as fine a hand at picking a pocket as a woman.

Delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; dexterous.

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

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.

The small scratch meant that his copy of “X-Men #2” was merely fine when it otherwise would have been “near mint”.

Of a particular grade of quality, usually between very good and very fine, and below mint.

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.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

Senses referring to objective quality.
(of weather) Sunny and not raining.

Senses referring to objective quality.
Sunny and not raining.

And if thy oblation be a meate offering baken in the frying pan,it ſhalbe made of fine flowꝛe with oyle.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 2:7:

Grind it into a fine powder.

When she touched the artifact, it collapsed into a heap of fine dust.

Consisting of especially minute particulates; made up of particularly small pieces.

The threads were so fine that you had to look through a magnifying glass to see them.

Particularly slender; especially thin, narrow, or of small girth.

They protected themselves from the small parasites with a fine wire mesh.

Senses referring to objective quality.
Made of slender or thin filaments.

Coins nine tenths fine.

Having a (specified) proportion of pure metal in its composition.

[…]to nudge it through the covers (or tickle it down to fine leg) for a four[…]

(cricket) Behind the batsman and at a small angle to the line between the wickets.

The eye standeth in the finer medium and the object in the grosser.

1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

en-adj

fine (comparative finer, superlative finest)

finer (comparative)
finest (superlative)

fyn

of a particular grade of quality, usually between "very good" and "very fine", and below "mint"

5@Sternum-FingerUp Contact

being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory

тъ́нък

particularly slender; especially thin, narrow, or of small girth

From Middle English fin, fyn, from Old French fin (“fine, minute, exact”), of obscure origin, but probably derived from Latin fīnīre (“to finish”) and/or fīnis (“boundary, limit, end”), with an abstract sense of "fine" or "thin" also arising in many Romance languages (compare Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian fino). Doublet of fino.


fine

Expression of (typically) reluctant or agreement.

Everything worked out fine.

Well, nicely, in a positive, agreeable way.

(dated, dialect, colloquial) Finely; elegantly; delicately.

(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.

en-adv

fine (comparative more fine, superlative most fine)

more fine (comparative)
most fine (superlative)


fine

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.

1926, Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, Scribner, published 2003, page 14:

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

1928, Jean Rhys, Quartet, Penguin, published 2000, page 34:

He refilled his glass. ‘The fine is very good,’ he said.

1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber, published 2007, page 18:

They filtered silt and fines out of the soil.

(usually in the plural) Something that is fine; fine particles.


fine

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.

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

(intransitive) To become finer, purer, or cleaner.

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

1913, Liberty Hyde Bailey, The Practical Garden Book:

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

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

I often sate at home
On evenings, watching how they fined themselves
With gradual conscience to a perfect night.

1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “(please specify either |book=1 to 9 or the page)”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, →OCLC:

(transitive) To clarify (wine and beer) by filtration.

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

1882, William Clark Russell, My Watch Below:

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

en-verb

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

fines (present singular third-person)
fining (participle present)
fined (participle past)
fined (past)

clarify

to make or become finer, purer, or cleaner


fine

The fine for jay-walking has gone from two dollars to thirty in the last fifteen years.

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.

2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:

A fee levied as punishment for breaking the law.

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

Fine if you've…

(Cambridge University slang) 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 penalty itself rather than the act of issuing it.

→ Swahili: faini

罚金

criminal fine in the PRC, Macao, and Taiwan; any fine in Singapore

罚款

administrative fine in the PRC and Macao; any fine in Singapore and Hong Kong; fat⁶ fun²

罚款

From Middle English fyn, fyne, from Old French fin, from Medieval Latin fīnis (“a payment in settlement or tax”). Doublet of fin and finis.


fine

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

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

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

1818, Henry Hallam, View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages:


fine

(music) The end of a musical composition.

(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.

From Italian fine (“end”). French fin. Doublet of fin and finis.


fine

(obsolete, intransitive) To finish; to cease.

(obsolete, transitive) To cause to cease; to stop.

From Middle English finen, fynen, from Old French finer, finir. See finish (transitive verb).


fine

And secret feare, to see their fatall fine

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 37:

Is this the fine of his fines?

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

(obsolete) End; conclusion; termination; extinction.

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

1523, Anthony Fitzherbert, The Boke of Surveying and Improvements:

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

(UK, 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.