DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
Re·fine v. t. [imp. & p. p. Refined p. pr. & vb. n. Refining.]
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.
Re·fined a. Freed from impurities or alloy; purifed; polished; cultured; delicate; as; refined gold; refined language; refined sentiments.
Refined wits who honored poesy with their pens. --Peacham.
-- Re*fin*ed*ly adv. -- Re*fin*ed*ness, n.
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refined
adj 1: used of persons and their behavior; cultivated and genteel;
"she was delicate and refined and unused to hardship";
"refined people with refined taste" [ant: unrefined]
2: freed from impurities by processing; "refined sugar";
"refined oil"; "to gild refined gold"- Shakespeare [syn: processed]
[ant: unrefined]
3: showing a high degree of refinement and the assurance that
comes from wide social experience; "his polished manner";
"maintained an urbane tone in his letters" [syn: polished,
svelte, urbane]
4: made pure [syn: purified, sublimate]
5: suggesting taste, ease, and wealth [syn: elegant, graceful]
6: free from what is tawdry or unbecoming; "a neat style"; "a
neat set of rules"; "she hated to have her neat plans
upset" [syn: neat, tasteful]