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aint of liberty; seclusion. The mind hates restraint, and is apt to fancy itself under confinement when the sight is pent up. Addison.

One who lives on confines, or near the border of a country; a borderer; a near neighbor. [Obs.] Bacon. Happy confiners you of other lands, That shift your soil, and oft 'scape tyrants' hands. Daniel.

To fix the bounds of; to bring to a termination; to end. "To define controversies." Barrow.

The act of defining; definition; description. [Obs.] Shak.

One who defines or explains.

To define. [Obs.] Chaucer.

The state of being huffish; petulance; bad temper. Ld. Lytton.

The state of being leafy.

A dish for keeping muffins hot.

Olefiant gas, or ethylene; hence, by extension, any one of the series of unsaturated hydrocarbons of which ethylene is a type. See Ethylene.

To refine too much.

Excessive refinement.

A white waxy substance, resembling spermaceti, tasteless and odorless, and obtained from coal tar, wood tar, petroleum, etc., by distillation. It is used as an illuminant and lubricant. It is very inert, not being acted upon by most of the strong chemical reagents. It was formerly regarded as a definite compound, but i…

A duty paid to the king by the cognizee in a fine of lands, when the same was fully passed; -- called also the king's silver.

To define beforehand.

To limit beforehand. [Obs.] Knolles.

The quality or state of being puffy.

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. Z…

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 (r, adv. -- Re*fin"ed*ness, n.

The act of refining, or the state of being refined; as, the refinement or metals; refinement of ideas. The more bodies are of kin to spirit in subtilty and refinement, the more diffusive are they. Norris. From the civil war to this time, I doubt whether the corruptions in our language have not equaled its refinements.…