fining

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To make finer, purer, or cleaner; to purify or clarify.
   • to fine gold
2. (intransitive) To become finer, purer, or cleaner.

   Synonyms:

   clarify, refine, purify

3. To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.
   • 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 furrows1913, Liberty Hyde Bailey, The Practical Garden Book
4. To change by fine gradations.
   • to fine down a ship's lines, i.e. to diminish her lines gradually
5. (transitive) To clarify (wine and beer) by filtration.
6. (dated, intransitive) To become gradually fine; to diminish; to dwindle (with away, down, or off).
   • 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

See all 42 meanings of fine