refinedadj.n.

1574 E. Hellowes tr. A. de Guevara Familiar Epist. 208 There be men..so ouer sharpe or refined [Sp. tan agudos y tan reagudos], that..they hold it for an office to deuine thoughts.

1594 T. Nashe Terrors of Night sig. Diii Filthie Italionat complement-mungers they are, who would faine be counted the Courts Gloriosos, and the refined iudges of wit.

1681 W. Temple Mem. iii, in Wks. (1731) I. 345 The refined Courtiers, who observe Countenances and Motions, had no Opinion of it.

1714 J. Swift Some Free Thoughts upon Present State Affairs (1741) 11 Others were yet more refined; and thought it neither wise nor safe wholly to extinguish all Opposition from the other Side.

1722 W. Bond in J. Hartcliffe Treat. Virtues (ed. 2) Ded. 5 The refined Matchiavillian Thinkers have..altered the very Nature of Ethicks.

1752 D. Hume Ess. & Treat. (1764) I. 235 A few eminent and refined geniuses..fix the tongue by their writings, and prevent..its farther changes.

1607 E. Grimeston tr. Gen. Inuentorie Hist. France ii. 891 Hauing not the refined discourse of Reason, they had great need of the assistance of their Soliciter.

1668 W. Davenant Man's the Master iii. i This reasoning does appear too much refin'd.

1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Architecture III. 1 The Mathematician considers the nature and forms of things..absolutely distinct from all kind of matter: whereas..it will be necessary for me to consider them in a way less refined.

1769 W. Robertson Hist. Charles V III. x. 232 Maurice employed artifices still more refined to conceal his machinations.

1812 R. Hall Wks. (1833) I. 292 Nothing subtle or refined should enter into the views of a Christian missionary.

1856 N. Brit. Rev. 26 41 Modern thought, in its substance, is a congeries of all those refined theistic speculations,..of all those deep and distracting surmises.

1937 G. T. Garratt Legacy India 40 The strict Sanskrit of the Brāhman schools, rendered precise by generations of refined and scrupulous study of texts.

1797 Trans. Royal Irish Acad. 6 Science 96 Tamerlane's telegraphy was not very refined... Whenever he laid siege to any town he used to employ three signals—the first day he set up a white flag [etc.].

1822 M. Faraday Let. in P. Day Philosopher's Tree (1999) vi. 96 Your refined researches on electro-magnetism or electrodynamics.

1843 Ld. Brougham Polit. Philos. i. 368 The Burgundian Law..is..more refined than the Salic or Ripuary codes.

1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 53 Both instruments are but refined modifications of our familiar experiment.

1950 K. Newton & W. Steeds Motor Vehicle (ed. 4) vi. 118 (caption) Rocker gear of refined design for overhead camshaft.

1988 Antiq. 62 714/1 Refined oars made of lighter wood than Douglas fir.

2006 R. Ehrlich tr. G. Rempe in tr. J. Audretsch et al. Entangled World v. 114 More and more refined experimental methods make it possible to assemble quantum objects into a larger system.

1582 R. Mulcaster 1st Pt. Elementarie xiv. 100 The best refiners, in the most refined tungs.

1611 M. Smith in Bible (King James) Transl. Pref. ⁋2 Certaine [men]..could not be brought for a long time to giue way to good Letters and refined speech.

1673 Remarques on Humours of Town 6 The fountain of the refinedst conversation.

1708 J. Swift Wks. (1764) XIII. 108 Now, it is to be understood, that this refined way of speaking was introduced by Mr. Locke.

1763 J. Brown Diss. Poetry & Music xii. 209 Certain Greeks..brought a refined and enervate Species of Music to Rome.

1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxvii. 297 He had a..pleasant and refined voice.

1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt I. i. 46 She spoke with a refined accent.

1951 H. Pearson Dizzy xvii. 270 He talked..with a very refined enunciation.

1987 R. Pilcher Shell Seekers xiv. 463 The voice was female, very Scottish, and immensely refined.

2007 Wired Nov. 254/1 His polished Oxbridge English sounds as refined as drawing room French.

1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost i. i. 161 A refined trauailer of Spaine, A man in all the worldes new fashion planted. View more context for this quotation

1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. III. 101 The most refined Frenchman that ever ranne afoote.

1663 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders 7 In this refined Age, which abounds in Books.

1713 R. Steele Englishman No. 21. 135 It repeats only such things as are proper for a refined Ear.

1781 W. Cowper Table Talk 511 Modern taste Is so refined and delicate and chaste.

1834 F. Marryat Jacob Faithful III. xiii. 228 The more refined the society may be—the more civilized its parts—the greater is the mutual dependence.

1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 404 The refined soul and Hellenic sympathies of the general.

1908 E. M. Forster Room with View xii. 202 Neither George nor Freddy was truly refined.

1959 D. Davin No Remittance 23 The first-class passengers were all a much more refined set.

2008 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 22 Jan. e10 A university-educated beauty with refined manners and a stinging forehand.

1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine iv. ii. 21 [Dromedaries are] of as much more refined service above Camells, as Hacknies are above Packhorses.

1660 R. Allestree Gentlemans Calling 13 That advantage..of an ingenuous and refined Education.

1782 W. Cowper Hope in Poems 166 The gross idolatry blind heathens teach Was too refin'd for them, beyond their reach.

a1845 S. Smith Elem. Sketches Moral Philos. (1850) 313 I am not speaking of the highest-refined London grief,—the grief of civilisation and softness; but the grief of a savage and a child.

1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits x. 168 The proudest result of this creation [sc. wealth] has been the great and refined forces it has put at the disposal of the private citizen.

1890 M. Oliphant Kirsteen I. ii. 26 ‘A haggis is a very good thing, it's fit for a king's table.’ ‘But not what you would call refined, nor genteel.’

1961 P. G. Wodehouse Service with Smile viii. 140 A lady could get a refined cup of tea with buttered toast and fancy cakes.

1995 Vogue Dec. 146 The best dress for day is demure and refined: a modest boat neck and elbow-length sleeves give a ladylike look.

1584 T. Chaloner Shorte Disc. Nitre sig. A.2. ^v Neuertheles this refined Nitre (with artificiall burning) shall also purchase more subtility.

1594 Taming of a Shrew sig. F^v Ile yerly send you from my fathers courte, Chests of refind suger seuerally, Ten tunne of tunis wine..To celibrate and solemnise this day.

1673 J. Ray Observ. Journey Low-countries 479 The juice of the refined sugar is much better than the first juice.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Sugar Sugar-candy..is better made of earth'd Sugar, than refin'd Sugar.

1791 ‘T. Newte’ Prospects & Observ. Tour 108 By an Act passed in 1786, refined English Rock-salt is allowed to be imported into Scotland.

1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 1207 Six tons of refined sugar can be turned out daily in a three-pan house.

1870 Nature 10 Feb. 376/2 The character of the refined petroleum imported from America has had much influence in extending its use.

1927 M. S. Rose Found. Nutrition xi. 327 There is much similarity in the energy and protein values of cereal foods, including highly refined flour and white bread.

1967 Gloss. Highway Engin. Terms (B.S.I.) 38 Refined tar, tar from which water and the more volatile oils have been removed by distillation.

1975 Audubon May 25/1 The..most widespread of all marine pollutants are petroleum hydrocarbons, meaning oil in all its refined and unrefined varieties.

1994 Minnesota Monthly May 8/2 The ultra-refined cornmeal found on everyday grocery shelves is so refined that there are no oils to smoke.

2004 S. Dalton Our Overweight Children v. 110 Carbonated drinks (sodas) are the single biggest source of refined sugars in the American diet.

1593 G. Harvey New Let. Notable Contents sig. D2^v A greater difference betwixt artificiall, and rude stiles; refined, and drossy wittes.

1605 M. Drayton Poems 70 If thy hand but touch the grossest mold, It is conuerted to refined gold.

1611 Bible (King James) 1 Chron. xxix. 4 Seuen thousand talents of refined siluer. View more context for this quotation

a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) iv. ii. 11 To gilde refined Gold, to paint the Lilly..Is wastefull, and ridiculous excesse. View more context for this quotation

1755 G. G. Beekman Let. 29 June in Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) I. 256 I have sent you 148 Barrs Common Iron 45.2.0 at 26/ and 56 Barrs of Refined Iron quantity 20.0.19.

1843 C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manip. I. 186 [The iron] is..cast into a plate about four inches thick, which is purer, finer in the grain than pig-metal, and also much harder and whiter; it is then called refined metal.

1855 J. R. Leifchild Cornwall: Mines & Miners 209 Refined tin, though not equal in quality to grain tin, is made from selected ores... It is used by most of the tin-plate manufacturers.

1884 W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron xiii. 245 The plate of fine metal, refined iron, plate metal, or simply metal, as the product of the refinery is variously called.

1924 A. J. Allmand & H. J. T. Ellingham Princ. Appl. Electrochem. (ed. 2) xv. 271 The arrangement is as in Fig. 38, the tank being filled with bi-polar electrodes, from one side of which crude metal dissolves while refined metal is deposited on the other side.

1992 RTZ Rev. June 10/3 An innovative hydrometallurgical process to make refined copper from copper concentrates has been developed by Escondida.