English Dictionary
◊ FINE
fine
adj 1: superior to the average; "in fine spirits"; "a fine
student"; "a fine summer day"; "made good grades";
"morale was good"; "had good weather for the parade"
[syn: {good}]
2: superior in skill or ability or accomplishment; "a fine
violinist"; "a fine athlete"; "a fine mind"; "the scupture
showed the fine hand of a master"; "a fine performance"
3: (informal) being satisfactory or in satisfactory condition;
"an all-right movie"; "the passengers were shaken up but
are all right"; "is everything all right?"; "everything's
fine"; "things are okay"; "dinner and the movies had been
fine"; "nother minute I'd have been fine" [syn: {all
right(p)}, {all-right(a)}, {ok}, {o.k.}, {okay}]
4: minutely precise especially in differences in meaning; "a
fine distinction"
5: used ironically; "a fine mess"; "a pretty kettle of fish"
[syn: {pretty}]
6: being in good health; "he's feeling all right again"; "I'm
fine; how are you?" [syn: {all right}]
7: very thin in gauge or diameter; "fine hairs"; "a tenuous
thread" [syn: {tenuous}]
8: characterized by elegance or refinement; "looking fine in
her Easter suit"; "a fine gentleman"
9: of texture; being small-grained or smooth to the touch or
having fine particles; "wood with a fine grain"; "fine
powdery snow"; "fine rain"; "batiste is a cotton fabric
with a fine weave"; "covered with a fine film of dust"
[ant: {coarse}]
10: of delicate composition and artistry; "a dainty teacup"; "an
exquisite cameo"; "fine china and crystal" [syn: {dainty},
{exquisite}]
11: of superior grade; "choice wines"; "fine wines" "prime
beef"; "prize carnations"; "quality paper"; "select
peaches" [syn: {choice}, {prime(a)}, {prize}, {quality},
{select}]
12: trained to the highest degree of physical excellence; "a
fine racehorse"
13: (metallurgy) having a high or specified degree of purity;
"gold 21 carats fine" [syn: {f.}]
14: (of weather) highly enjoyable; very pleasant; "a beautiful
evening" [syn: {beautiful}]
15: very small; "be sure to read the fine print"
16: able to make or detect effects of great subtlety; sensitive;
"discerning taste"; "a fine eye for color" [syn: {discerning}]
n 1: the act of imposing a fine [syn: {fining}]
2: money extracted as a penalty [syn: {mulct}, {amercement}]
adv 1: sentence-initial expression of agreement [syn: {very well},
{alright}, {all right}, {OK}]
2: in a delicate manner; "finely shaped features"; "her fine
drawn body" [syn: {finely}, {delicately}, {exquisitely}]
3: in an excellent and skilled manner; "the soldiers were
fighting finely" [syn: {finely}]
v 1: impose a fine on [syn: {mulct}]
2: issue a ticket or a fine to; "I was fined for parking on the
wrong side of the street"; "Move your car or else you will
be ticketed!" [syn: {ticket}]
English Computing Dictionary
◊ DID YOU MEAN FILE?
file
An element of data storage in a {file system}.
The history of computing is rich in varied kinds of files and
{file systems}, whether ornate (e.g., {Macintosh file system}
for a well-known case) or deficient (e.g., many simple
pre-1980s file systems don't allow {directories}).
However, the prototypical file has these characteristics:
▫ It is a single sequence of bytes (but consider {Macintosh}
{resource forks}).
▫ It has a finite length, unlike, e.g. a {Unix} {device}.
▫ It is stored in a {non-volatile storage} medium (but see
{ramdrive}).
▫ It exists (nominally) in a {directory}.
▫ It has a name that it can be referred to by in file
operations, possibly in combination with its {path}.
Additionally, a file system may associate other information
with a file, such as {permission} bits or other {file
attributes}; timestamps for file creation, last revision, and
last access; revision numbers (a` la VMS), and other kinds of
{magic}.
(1997-04-08)