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noun Art n. 1.The employment of means to accomplish some desired end; the adaptation of things in the natural world to the uses of life; the application of knowledge or power to practical purposes. "Blest with each grace of nature and of art." 2.A system of rules serving to facilitate the performance of certain actions; a system of principles and rules for attaining a desired end; method of doing well some special work; often contradistinguished from science or speculative principles; as, the art of building or engraving; the art of war; the art of navigation. "Science is systematized knowledge... Art is knowledge made efficient by skill." 3.The systematic application of knowledge or skill in effecting a desired result. Also, an occupation or business requiring such knowledge or skill. "The fishermen can't employ their art with so much success in so troubled a sea." 4.The application of skill to the production of the beautiful by imitation or design, or an occupation in which skill is so employed, as in painting and sculpture; one of the fine arts; as, he prefers art to literature. 5.pl. Those branches of learning which are taught in the academical course of colleges; as, master of arts. "In fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts." "Four years spent in the arts (as they are called in colleges) is, perhaps, laying too laborious a foundation." 6.Learning; study; applied knowledge, science, or letters. (Archaic) "So vast is art, so narrow human wit." 7.Skill, dexterity, or the power of performing certain actions, acquired by experience, study, or observation; knack; as, a man has the art of managing his business to advantage. 8.Skillful plan; device. "They employed every art to soothe... the discontented warriors." 9.Cunning; artifice; craft. "Madam, I swear I use no art at all." "Animals practice art when opposed to their superiors in strength." 10.The black art; magic. (Obs.) Art and part (Scots Law), share or concern by aiding and abetting a criminal in the perpetration of a crime, whether by advice or by assistance in the execution; complicity. Note: The arts are divided into various classes. The useful arts, The mechanical arts, or The industrial arts are those in which the hands and body are more concerned than the mind; as in making clothes and utensils. These are called trades. The fine arts are those which have primarily to do with imagination and taste, and are applied to the production of what is beautiful. They include poetry, music, painting, engraving, sculpture, and architecture; but the term is often confined to painting, sculpture, and architecture. The liberal arts (artes liberales, the higher arts, which, among the Romans, only freemen were permitted to pursue) were, in the Middle Ages, these seven branches of learning, grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. In modern times the liberal arts include the sciences, philosophy, history, etc., which compose the course of academical or collegiate education. Hence, degrees in the arts; master and bachelor of arts. "In America, literature and the elegant arts must grow up side by side with the coarser plants of daily necessity." Synonyms: Science; literature; aptitude; readiness; skill; dexterity; adroitness; contrivance; profession; business; trade; calling; cunning; artifice; duplicity. See Science.
adjective fine adj. (compar. finer; superl. finest) 1.Finished; brought to perfection; refined; hence, free from impurity; excellent; superior; elegant; worthy of admiration; accomplished; beautiful. "The gain thereof (is better) than fine gold." "A cup of wine that's brisk and fine." "Not only the finest gentleman of his time, but one of the finest scholars." "To soothe the sick bed of so fine a being (Keats)." 2.Aiming at show or effect; loaded with ornament; overdressed or overdecorated; showy. "He gratified them with occasional... fine writing." 3.Nice; delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; skillful; dexterous. "The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!" "The nicest and most delicate touches of satire consist in fine raillery." "He has as fine a hand at picking a pocket as a woman." 4.Not coarse, gross, or heavy; as: (a)Not gross; subtile; thin; tenous. "The eye standeth in the finer medium and the object in the grosser." (b)Not coarse; comminuted; in small particles; as, fine sand or flour. (c)Not thick or heavy; slender; filmy; as, a fine thread. (d)Thin; attenuate; keen; as, a fine edge. (e)Made of fine materials; light; delicate; as, fine linen or silk. 5.Having (such) a proportion of pure metal in its composition; as, coins nine tenths fine. 6.(Used ironically.) "Ye have made a fine hand, fellows." Note: Fine is often compounded with participles and adjectives, modifying them adverbially; a, fine-drawn, fine-featured, fine-grained, fine-spoken, fine-spun, etc. Fine arch (Glass Making), the smaller fritting furnace of a glasshouse. Fine arts. See the Note under Art. Fine cut, fine cut tobacco; a kind of chewing tobacco cut up into shreds. Fine goods, woven fabrics of fine texture and quality. Fine stuff, lime, or a mixture of lime, plaster, etc., used as material for the finishing coat in plastering. To sail fine (Naut.), to sail as close to the wind as possible. Synonyms: Fine, Beautiful. When used as a word of praise, fine (being opposed to coarse) denotes no "ordinary thing of its kind." It is not as strong as beautiful, in reference to the single attribute implied in the latter term; but when we speak of a fine woman, we include a greater variety of particulars, viz., all the qualities which become a woman, breeding, sentiment, tact, etc. The term is equally comprehensive when we speak of a fine garden, landscape, horse, poem, etc.; and, though applied to a great variety of objects, the word has still a very definite sense, denoting a high degree of characteristic excellence.
Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48
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