[ad. med.L. *superfīnus (implied in superfīnitās): see SUPER- 9 a and FINE a. Cf. F. superfin (also surfin), Sp., Pg. superfino, also It. sopraffino, Sp. sobrefino.]
A. adj. † 1. ? Exceedingly subtle. Obs. rare.
c. 1440. Lydg., Hors, Shepe, & G., 313. This Agnus dei … Which wessh a-wey all venym superfyne On Calverie.
2. Excessively refined, nice, fastidious or elegant; over-refined, over-nice.
1575. Gascoigne, Making of Verse, Wks. 1907, I. 465. Many inventions are so superfine, that they are Vix good.
1589. Greene, Menaphon (Arb.), 51. She heard him so superfine, as if Ephæbus had learnd him to refine his mother tongue.
1622. Venner, Via Recta (ed. 2), 170. Them that out of a superfine daintinesse cannot liue but by sweete meates.
1695. Locke, Reason. Chr. (1696), 305. The bulk of Mankind have not leisure for Learning and Logick, and superfine distinctions of the Schools.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Man of Many Fr. (Colburn), 136. A pair of superfine ladies’ footmen.
1830. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. IV. 264 (Two Dolls). The care of his grand-daughter left entirely to a vulgar old nurse and a superfine housekeeper.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. I. iii. Madame, for her part, trains up a youthful d’Orleans generation in what superfinest morality one can.
3. † Consisting of very fine particles or threads (obs.). Also of a file with extremely fine teeth.
1656. Earl Monm., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnass., II. lxxi. 348. Princes were now no longer able … to throw dust in their Subjects Eyes, though it were most artificial and superfine.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Superfine, very fine or thin; as Superfine Wire, Thread, Cards, &c.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., Superfine.… The Term is particularly used among Gold Wiar-drawers, for the Gold or Silver-wiar, which after being drawn through an infinite Number of Holes, each less and less, is, at length, brought not to be bigger than a Hair.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2455/1. Superfine File, a dead-smooth file.
4. Of manufactured goods: Extremely fine in quality; of the very best kind; (of liquid) the purest or clearest.
1682. Rec. Scott. Cloth Manuf. New Mills (S.H.S.), 40. John Rae is ordered when he gives out wool … to sett down a letter for a distinction that is C for course M for midleing F for fine and S.F. for super fine.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), II. 332. Till you observe your Cyder to be very transparent, which then may be called Superfine.
1710. Tatler, No. 245, ¶ 2. Seven cakes of superfine Spanish wool.
1774. Chesterfield’s Lett. (1792), I. 238. The very best wool, which we make use of here in manufacturing our superfine cloths.
1818. Byron, Juan, I. cxcviii. The wax was superfine, its hue vermilion.
1872. L. P. Meredith, Teeth (1878), 12. The bread, pastry, cake, etc., so much in use and made of superfine flour.
5. Superlatively fine or excellent.
1850. E. FitzGerald, Lett. to J. Allen, 9 March. I have read but very little of late; indeed my eyes have not been in superfine order.
1885. Ruskin, Præterita, I. ii. 47. In the fixed purpose of making an ecclesiastical gentleman of me, with the superfinest of manners.
B. sb. pl. Goods of superfine quality.
1812. Bigland, Beauties Eng. & Wales, XVI. 787. The chief manufacture of the town and its vicinity is cloth, which was formerly almost wholly of the coarser kinds; but the manufacture of superfines has of late greatly increased.
1880. J. Dunbar, Pract. Papermaker, 20. Superfines, 1/4: Spanish Esparto, Fine, 1/4.
