Refine

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Refine \Re*fine"\, v. i.
     1. To become pure; to be cleared of feculent matter.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              So the pure, limpid stream, when foul with stains,
              Works itself clear, and, as it runs, refines.


                                                    --Addison.
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     2. To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence.
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              Chaucer refined on Boccace, and mended his stories.
                                                    --Dryden.
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              But let a lord once own the happy lines,
              How the wit brightens! How the style refines!
                                                    --Pope.
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     3. To affect nicety or subtilty in thought or language. "He
        makes another paragraph about our refining in
        controversy." --Atterbury.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Refine \Re*fine"\ (r?*f?n"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Refined}
     (-find"); p. pr. & vb. n. {Refining}.] [Pref. re- + fine to
     make fine: cf. F. raffiner.]
     1. To reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from
        impurities; to free from dross or alloy; to separate from
        extraneous matter; to purify; to defecate; as, to refine
        gold or silver; to refine iron; to refine wine or sugar.
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              I will bring the third part through the fire, and
              will refine them as silver is refined. --Zech. xiii.
                                                    9.
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     2. To purify from what is gross, coarse, vulgar, inelegant,
        low, and the like; to make elegant or exellent; to polish;
        as, to refine the manners, the language, the style, the
        taste, the intellect, or the moral feelings.
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              Love refines
              The thoughts, and heart enlarges.     --Milton.
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     Syn: To purify; clarify; polish; ennoble.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  refine
       v 1: improve or perfect by pruning or polishing; "refine one's
            style of writing" [syn: {polish}, {fine-tune}, {down}]
       2: make more complex, intricate, or richer; "refine a design or
          pattern" [syn: {complicate}, {rarify}, {elaborate}]
       3: treat or prepare so as to put in a usable condition; "refine
          paper stock"; "refine pig iron"; "refine oil"
       4: reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; separate from
          extraneous matter or cleanse from impurities; "refine
          sugar" [syn: {rectify}]
       5: attenuate or reduce in vigor, strength, or validity by
          polishing or purifying; "many valuable nutrients are
          refined out of the foods in our modern diet"
       6: make more precise or increase the discriminatory powers of;
          "refine a method of analysis"; "refine the constant in the
          equation"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  164 Moby Thesaurus words for "refine":
     abate, abrade, abstract, acculturate, advance, ameliorate, amend,
     bate, beautify, better, bolt, boost, bring forward, carve, chisel,
     civilize, clarify, cleanse, clear, colliquate, concentrate,
     convert, cultivate, curtail, decoct, decontaminate, decrassify,
     decrease, deduct, defrost, depreciate, depurate, derogate, detract,
     develop, diminish, disparage, distill, drain, eat away, edify,
     educate, edulcorate, elaborate, elevate, elute, embellish, emend,
     enhance, enlighten, enrich, erode, essentialize, evolve, excite,
     express, extract, fatten, favor, file away, filter, filtrate,
     finish, flux, focus, forward, foster, fuse, go straight, grow,
     harvest, hone, impair, improve, improve upon, infuse, lard, leach,
     lessen, lift, lixiviate, machine, make an improvement,
     make sensitive, mature, meliorate, melt, melt down, mend, mill,
     mine, narrow, nurture, oversimplify, percolate, perfect, polish,
     press out, process, promote, pump, purify, quicken, raise, rear,
     rectify, reduce, reduce to elements, refine upon, reform, remove,
     render, retrench, ripen, round, rub away, run, screen, season,
     sensibilize, sensitize, separate, sharpen, shorten, sieve, sift,
     simplify, sleek, slick, smelt, smooth, soak, socialize,
     spiritualize, steep, stimulate, stir, straighten out, strain,
     streamline, strip down, subduct, sublimate, sublime, subtilize,
     subtract, take away, take from, thaw, thin, thin out, transfigure,
     transform, try, unfreeze, upgrade, uplift, wear away, weed, whet,
     winnow, withdraw, wring, wring out
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  REFINE
       
          1. "Research on Knowledge-Based Software Environments at
          Kestrel Institute", D.R. Smith et al, IEEE Trans Soft Eng,
          SE-11(11) (1985).  E-mail: .
       
          2. Cordell Green et al, Stanford U.  Uses logic to specify and
          evolve programs.  [same as 1?] Reasoning Systems, Inc.
          E-mail: .