Nor is there any of the finer definition that made them sharply “careless people.”
Is there a finer prize for any writer of fiction than the ability to predict the future?
One person who holds a much higher opinion of Klitschko is somebody who learned his finer qualities while facing him in the ring.
The more feminine, the more emotionally sensitive, the finer the fingerprint.
Leave the finer points to your staff and supporters and stay on message.
But if any one of them was finer than that whale of a hit, Ive forgotten it.
He must have hated violence and uproar, and liked the finer shades of life.
Her temper was even, and her nature was finer than her prim, priggish ways would have led the casual acquaintance to suppose.
After all, what finer work could there be than the rearing of a first-class American youth?
The tablecloth is then removed: under it, at the best tables, is a finer, upon which the dessert is set.
late 13c., "pay as a ransom or penalty," from fine (n.). Inverted meaning "to punish by a fine" is from 1550s. Related: Fined; fining.
mid-13c., "unblemished, refined, pure; of superior quality," from Old French fin "perfected, of highest quality" (12c.), from Latin finis "end, limit" (see finish); hence "acme, peak, height," as in finis boni "the highest good."
In French, the main meaning remains "delicate, intricately skillful;" in English since mid-15c. fine is also a general expression of admiration or approval, the equivalent of French beau (cf. fine arts, 1767, translating French beaux-arts). Finer; finest. Fine print is from 1861 as "type small and close-set;" by 1934 as "qualifications and limitations of a deal."
c.1200, "termination," from Old French fin "end, limit, boundary; death; fee, payment, finance, money" (10c.), from Medieval Latin finis "a payment in settlement, fine or tax," from Latin finis "end" (see finish).
Modern meaning is via sense of "sum of money paid for exemption from punishment or to compensate for injury" (mid-14c., from the same sense in Anglo-French, late 13c.) and from phrases such as to make fine "make one's peace, settle a matter" (c.1300). Meaning "sum of money imposed as penalty for some offense" is first recorded 1520s.
late 13c., "pay as a ransom or penalty," from fine (n.). Inverted meaning "to punish by a fine" is from 1550s. Related: Fined; fining.
c.1200, "termination," from Old French fin "end, limit, boundary; death; fee, payment, finance, money" (10c.), from Medieval Latin finis "a payment in settlement, fine or tax," from Latin finis "end" (see finish).
Modern meaning is via sense of "sum of money paid for exemption from punishment or to compensate for injury" (mid-14c., from the same sense in Anglo-French, late 13c.) and from phrases such as to make fine "make one's peace, settle a matter" (c.1300). Meaning "sum of money imposed as penalty for some offense" is first recorded 1520s.
