释义 |
▪ I. refining, vbl. n.|rɪˈfaɪnɪŋ| [-ing1.] 1. The action of the vb. refine in various senses.
1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. iii. 210 That [metal] which remaines of the refining of gold and silver. 1672Dryden Def. Epil. Conq. Granada Ess. (Ker) I. 170 A turning English into French, rather than a refining of English by French. 1712tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 57 The next thing to be consider'd is the Refining of Sugar. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVI. 37/2 The vessel in which the refining is performed is flat and shallow. 1863Trevelyan Compet. Wallah (1866) 56 The opium goes through a series of processes which may generally be described by the epithet ‘refining’. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss. s.v., The refining of ‘base bullion’ (silver-lead) produces nearly pure lead and silver. b. With a and pl. An instance of this.
a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. iv. 75 After many refinings, macerations, and maturations. 1686A. Horneck Crucif. Jesus v. 75 Men..are strangely tickled with new things, which are often called refinings, or improvements of old truths. a1715Burnet Own Time iii. (1724) I. 407 This was such a refining in a point of honour. 1754Edwards Freed. Will ii. vii. (1762) 64 This seems to be a Refining only of some particular Writers, and newly invented. 2. attrib., as refining basin, refining forge, refining furnace, refining hearth, refining house, refining mould, refining process, refining room, etc. In many cases hardly distinct from the ppl. a.
a1658Cleveland Poems (1687) 1 The Still of his refining Mold Minting the Garden into Gold. 1674Ray Coll. Words 114 These bars they bring to the refining Furnace. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Sugar, As soon as the earth is on the sugar, all the windows of the refining-room are shut. 1731P. Shaw Ess. Artif. Philos. 126 The Washings..and Waste of a Sugar-Baker's Refining House. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 608 The gold produced by the refining process with lead, is free from copper and lead. Ibid. 712 The German refining forge. 1855J. R. L[eifchild] Cornwall Mines 211 Plunging billets of green wood into the melted tin in the refining basin. ▪ II. reˈfining, ppl. a. [f. refine v. + -ing2.] That refines. (See also prec. 2.)
1676Marvell Mr. Smirke I, Some of the Bishops were so ignorant and gross, but others so speculative, acute and refining in their conceptions. 1736Hervey Mem. (1848) I. 40 Like many other refining historians, I attribute that to prudence which was only owing to accident. 1774Burke Sp. Amer. Tax. Wks. 1842 I. 175/1 Whether [sufficiently] to serve a refining speculatist,..I know not. 1875Ure's Dict. Arts I. 943 In washing, the metal and refining fluxes are projected together into the crucible. 1885Athenæum 27 June 828/2 Where the refining power of a genuine master would begin to display itself. Hence reˈfiningly adv.
1822Examiner 10/2 The general eye would be refiningly familiarised to the relish and knowledge of Art. |