Search the Dictionary

- File cutter, a maker of files. -- Second-cut file, a file having teeth of a grade next finer than bastard. -- Single-cut file, a file having only one set of parallel teeth; a float. -- Smooth file, a file having teeth so fine as to make an almost smooth surface.

Ornamental work, formerly with grains or breads, but now composed of fine wire and used chiefly in decorating gold and silver to which the wire is soldered, being arranged in designs frequently of a delicate and intricate arabesque pattern.

Liable or subject to a fine; as, a finable person or offense. Bacon.

See Finery.

Affectedly fine; overnice; unduly particular; fastidious. "Finical taste." Wordsworth. The gross style consists in giving no detail, the finical in giving nothing else. Hazlitt.

To make fine; to dress finically. [Obs.] Hath so pared and finified them [his feet.] B. Jonson.

That which is used to refine; especially, a preparation of isinglass, gelatin, etc., for clarifying beer. Fining pot, a vessel in which metals are refined. Prov. xvii. 3.

The joiner work and other finer work required for the completion of a building, especially of the interior. See Inside finish, and Outside finish.

e escape, a contrivance for facilitating escape from burning buildings. -- Fire gilding (Fine Arts), a mode of gilding with an amalgam of gold and quicksilver, the latter metal being driven off afterward by heat. -- Fire gilt (Fine Arts), gold laid on by the process of fire gilding. -- Fire insurance, the act or sys…

ir W. Raleigh. Marked stiffness or absolute fixation of a joint. Quain. A fixation and confinement of thought to a few objects. Watts.

Showy, but counterfeit; cheap, pretentious, and vulgar; as, flash jewelry; flash finery.

h, n., 2. (b). -- Flat cap, cap paper, not folded. See under Paper. -- Flat chasing, in fine art metal working, a mode of ornamenting silverware, etc., producing figures by dots and lines made with a punching tool. Knight. -- Flat chisel, a sculptor's chisel for smoothing. -- Flat file, a file wider than its thickn…

That quality which gives character to any of the productions of literature or the fine arts.

The fine web of cotton or wool removed by the doffing knife from the cylinder of a carding machine. Fleece wool, wool shorn from the sheep. -- Golden fleece. See under Golden.

Float case (Naut.), a caisson used for lifting a ship. -- Float copper or gold (Mining), fine particles of metallic copper or of gold suspended in water, and thus liable to be lost. -- Float ore, water-worn particles of ore; fragments of vein material found on the surface, away from the vein outcrop. Raymond. -- Flo…

The process by which small particles of fine soils and sediments aggregate into larger lumps.

Woolen or cotton refuse (sing. or pl.), old rags, etc., reduced to a degree of fineness by machinery, and used for stuffing unpholstered furniture.

Tin ore scarcely perceptible in the stone; tin ore stamped very fine. Pryce.

The finely ground meal of wheat, or of any other grain; especially, the finer part of meal separated by bolting; hence, the fine and soft powder of any substance; as, flour of emery; flour of mustard. Flour bolt, in milling, a gauze-covered, revolving, cylindrical frame or reel, for sifting the flour from the refuse co…

Finely granulated; -- said of quicksilver which has been granulated by agitation during the amalgamation process. Raymond.