Re*fine" , v. i. 1. 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.
Addison. 2. To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence.
Chaucer refined on Boccace, and mended his stories.
Dryden.
But let a lord once own the happy
lines,
How the wit brightens! How the style
refines!
Pope.
3. To affect nicety or subtilty in thought or
language. "He makes another paragraph about our refining in controversy."
Atterbury.
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.
I will bring the third part through the fire, and
will refine them as silver is refined.
Zech. xiii. 9.
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.
Love refines
The thoughts, and heart enlarges.
Milton.
Syn. -- To purify; clarify; polish; ennoble.
Hear it pronounced