vbl. sb. [f. FINE v.3 + -ING1.] The action of the vb. FINE.
1. The operation or process of refining (metals); esp. that of converting cast iron into wrought iron by heating it in contact with charcoal and so removing the carbon.
1502. Priv. Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830), 38. Certain personnes in Litle Dean in the Forrest of Dean that wrought in fynyng of iron.
1585. Abp. Sandys, Serm. (1841), 366. Which burning shall be as it were the fining of gold in the furnace, not consuming, but purging the substance of these creatures from the dross of those alterable qualities whereunto they are now subject.
1864. Percy, Iron & Steel, 579. It seems somewhat absurd to designate the process of incomplete decarburization as refining, and that of … complete decarburization as only fining. Ibid., I … apply the word fining to the operation of converting cast into malleable iron … in a hearth or open fire urged by a blast of air with charcoal as the fuel.
2. The operation or process of clarifying (a liquid; esp. beer, wine, etc.). Also the process by which a liquid becomes fine or clear.
1607. Dekker, Wh. Babylon, Wks. 1873, II. 215.
| Titan. Wee built her vp a lodging at our cost, | |
| To haue her labour in our Vineyards: | |
| For till shee came, no Vines could please our taste, | |
| But of her fining. |
1683. Lond. Gaz., No. 1862/8. New Experiments, for Fyning and Improving of Syder.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., xvi. 339. It [Beech] is good also for Fuel, Bavin, Felloes of the London Cars, and Coal, tho’ of the least lasting, not to omit the Shavings of it for the fining of Wine, and the Ashes of it with proper mixtures, is good to make Glass.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric., I. 137. The operation of fining will be unnecessary to such beer.
1864. Reader, 9 Jan., 53. To investigate the cause of this fining of the blood.
b. concr. Anything used for this purpose. Usu. pl.
1772. H. Jackson, in Phil. Trans., LXIII. 5. One ounce and a half of good isinglass, steeped a few days in one gallon of stale beer, was converted into good fining, of a remarkable thick consistence.
1821. Imison, Elements of Science and Art, II. 160. A preparation of isinglass and sour beer, called finings, is put into it.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 184. The coffee is made of a dark colour by means of what are called ‘finings’ which consist of burnt sugar.
1885. Act 48–9 Vict., c. 50 § 8. Finings for the purpose of clarification [of beer].
3. Comb.: fining-forge (see quot.); fining-pot, a crucible in which metals are refined; fining-roller (see quot.).
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 848/2. *Fining-forge. (Metallurgy.) An open hearth with a blast by which iron is freed of impurities or foreign matters.
1611. Bible, Prov. xvii. 3. The *fining pot is for siluer, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
1879. Sir G. G. Scott, Lect. Archit., I. 134. Let us throw them boldly into the fining-pot, and if we are skilful manipulators, the gold will remain and the dross be thrown off.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 848/2. *Fining-roller. (Paper-making.) A cylindrical wire-cloth sieve in the paper-making machine, which allows the finely ground stuff to pass, but restrains the coarse fibers and knots.
