REFINING • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Refining

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/rəfˈaɪnɪŋ/ /rɪfˈaɪnɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Refine v. t. (past & past part. refined; pres. part. refining)

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. "I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined."

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. "Love refines The thoughts, and heart enlarges."

Synonyms: To purify; clarify; polish; ennoble.

Refine v. i.

To become pure; to be cleared of feculent matter. "So the pure, limpid stream, when foul with stains, Works itself clear, and, as it runs, refines."

To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence. "Chaucer refined on Boccace, and mended his stories." "But let a lord once own the happy lines, How the wit brightens! How the style refines!"

To affect nicety or subtilty in thought or language. "He makes another paragraph about our refining in controversy."

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Etymology of 'Refining'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Refining" Quotes from Famous Books

... have, for many ages, been gradually refining; and are capable of that protection which ...

— An History of Birmingham (1783) • William Hutton

... Mrs. Tallboys said; you will do nothing but laugh at us, or else talk sentiment about our refining you. Now, I want to be free ...

— The Three Brides • Charlotte M. Yonge

... the expenses of reduction and refining and transportation and digging are deducted that it will be worth at least $100 an ounce," was the reply. "It would bring an even higher price, for the placing of a large amount on the market will probably have ...

— The Boy Inventors' Radio Telephone • Richard Bonner

... the north section, and the town built up on a brewery and the hopes of being hit by a railroad survey, and of holding the county seat, was left in this third part which, like Caesar's third part of all Gaul, was most barbarous because least often the refining influences of civilization ...

— Winning the Wilderness • Margaret Hill McCarter

... forbidding area for a garden in its original state could scarcely be found. Enough vegetables and fruit can be raised from it hereafter, with annual fertilizing, to supply a large family, and it will improve every year under the refining effects ...

— The Home Acre • E. P. Roe

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