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refining

   Also found in: Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.02 sec.
re·fine  (r-fn)
v. re·fined, re·fin·ing, re·fines
v.tr.
1. To reduce to a pure state; purify.
2. To remove by purifying.
3. To free from coarse, unsuitable, or immoral characteristics: refined his manners; refined her speaking style.
v.intr.
1. To become free of impurities.
2. To acquire polish or elegance.
3. To use precise distinctions and subtlety in thought or speech.
re·finer n.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.refiningrefining - the process of removing impurities (as from oil or metals or sugar etc.)
purification, refinement
processing - preparing or putting through a prescribed procedure; "the processing of newly arrived immigrants"; "the processing of ore to obtain minerals"
rectification - (chemistry) the process of refinement or purification of a substance by distillation


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
It would be refining too much, perhaps, even considering his monomania, to hint that his vindictiveness towards the White Whale might have possibly extended itself in some degree to all sperm whales, and that the more monsters he slew by so much the more he multiplied the chances that each subsequently encountered whale would prove to be the hated one he hunted.
Moby Dick I-LXVII by Melville, Herman View in context
Between these more serious occupations the Saturday night hop with the paper-box factory girls came as a refining influence and as an efficient screen.
The Four Million by Henry, O. View in context
Her Westmorland scenery is more than a mere background; its spiritual and, as it were, personal hold on persons, as understood by the great poet of the Lakes, is seen actually at work, in the formation, in the refining, of character.
The Guardian by Pater, Walter Horatio View in context
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