Definition: refine

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Source: WordNet (r) 1.7 

refine
     v 1: improve or perfect by pruning or polishing; "refine one's
          style of writing" [syn: polish, fine-tune, down]
     2: make more complex, intricate, or richer; "refine a design or
        pattern" [syn: complicate, rarify, elaborate]
     3: treat or prepare so as to put in a usable condition; "refine
        paper stock"; "refine pig iron"; "refine oil"
     4: reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; separate from
        extraneous matter or cleanse from impurities; "refine
        sugar"
     5: attenuate or reduce in vigor, strength, or validity by
        polishing or purifying; "many valuable nutrients are
        refined out of the foods in our modern diet"
     6: make more precise or increase the discriminatory powers of;
        "refine a method of analysis"; "refine the constant in the
        equation"

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 

Refine \Re*fine"\ (r?*f?n"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Refined
   (-find"); p. pr. & vb. n. Refining.] [Pref. re- + fine to
   make fine: cf. F. raffiner.]
   1. To reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from
      impurities; to free from dross or alloy; to separate from
      extraneous matter; to purify; to defecate; as, to refine
      gold or silver; to refine iron; to refine wine or sugar.

            I will bring the third part through the fire, and
            will refine them as silver is refined. --Zech. xiii.
                                                  9.

   2. To purify from what is gross, coarse, vulgar, inelegant,
      low, and the like; to make elegant or exellent; to polish;
      as, to refine the manners, the language, the style, the
      taste, the intellect, or the moral feelings.

            Love refines The thoughts, and heart enlarges.
                                                  --Milton.

   Syn: To purify; clarify; polish; ennoble.
Refine \Re*fine"\, v. i.
   1. To become pure; to be cleared of feculent matter.

            So the pure, limpid stream, when foul with stains,
            Works itself clear, and, as it runs, refines.
                                                  --Addison.

   2. To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence.

            Chaucer refined on Boccace, and mended his stories.
                                                  --Dryden.

            But let a lord once own the happy lines, How the wit
            brightens! How the style refines!     --Pope.

   3. To affect nicety or subtilty in thought or language. ``He
      makes another paragraph about our refining in
      controversy.'' --Atterbury.

Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2003-OCT-10) 

REFINE

   1. "Research on Knowledge-Based Software Environments at
   Kestrel Institute", D.R. Smith et al, IEEE Trans Soft Eng,
   SE-11(11) (1985).  E-mail: <<a href="mailto:maria@kestrel.edu">maria@kestrel.edu>.

   2. Cordell Green et al, Stanford U.  Uses logic to specify and
   evolve programs.  [same as 1?] Reasoning Systems, Inc.
   E-mail: <help@reasoning.com>.