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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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FINE, adj., adv., v. Sc. usages:

I. adj. 1. Comfortable, at ease, contented, having had enough, e.g. of a helping of food; well, in good health. Gen.Sc.Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 265:
A' wi' us are hale an' fine.Lth. 1885 "J. Strathesk" Blinkbonny 67:
Tell your mother that . . . Willie's fine.Ags. 1889 Barrie W. in Thrums xvi.:
He often wrote that he was "fine" when Jess had her doubts.Abd. 1909 G. Greig Mains's Wooin' 18:
"Ay, Maggie lass, and are ye quite well?" "I'm fine, Mains."Sc. 1932 A. Muir Beginning the Adventure 215:
"Hadn't you better slip back to the cottage and have something to eat?" "You go, Maister Chalmers," he demurred. "I'm fine."

2. Of persons: pleasant in manner, agreeable, likeable (Sc. 1782 J. Sinclair Ob. Sc. Dial. 52). Gen.Sc.Ayr. 1789 Burns Capt. Grose's Peregrinations ii.:
A fine, fat, fodgel wight, O' stature short but genius bright.Lnk. 1806 J. Black Falls of Clyde 206:
As for fairies, They're fine bit bodies.Bnff. 1881 W. M. Philip K. MacIntosh's Scholars xxiv.:
The new lady of Bredoyne House is a fine lassie.Sh. 1918 T. Manson Peat Comm. I. 53:
Miss F. ("da fine ting o lass").

II. adv. Very well, perfectly well; nicely; very much. Sometimes used ironically or in positive assertion in contradicting a statement. Freq. in phrs. fine pleased, to like fine. Gen.Sc.Ayr. 1786 Burns Scotch Drink vii.:
His wee drap parritch, or his bread, Thou kitchens fine.Per. c.1800 Lady Nairne Cradle Song iv.:
My wee bairnie's dozin', it's dozin' now fine.Slg. 1842 Children in Trades Report ii. k. 31:
His master, Andrew Pott, told him to say he liked the work fine.m.Lth. 1870 J. Lauder Warblings 35:
Fine I mind my father's anger.Sc. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped iii.:
I can do fine wanting it. I'll take the ale, though.Ags. 1893 "F. Mackenzie" Cruisie Sk. xvi.:
Ay, I'm thankfu' Maister Tamson's fine-pleased wi' my job.Kcb. 1893 Crockett Stickit Minister 301:
Me an the minister 'grees fine.wm.Sc. 1922 G. Blake Clyde-Built 15:
I ken fine that that's just what ye did mean.Abd. 1932 Abd. Press and Jnl. (6 April):
Aw wid like fine t' say een or twa things.Fif.¹ 1936
One boy, sneering at another for some poor performance, may say, "fine ye did it." Or he may also use the phrase, if he disbelieves an account which another boy has given him.Gsw. 1983 James Kelman in Moira Burgess and Hamish Whyte Streets of Stone (1985) 71:
Then I mind fine we were all sitting around having a couple of pints in the Crown and there at the other end of the bar was our 1 and 2 sticks. m.Sc. 1989 James Meek McFarlane Boils the Sea 31:
'... I farm this place, and you know fine that makes it mine. ...'

III. Phrs.: 1. fine an(d), followed by another adj., very, properly, really and truly, adequately, desirably. Gen.Sc. Cf. Eng. nice and, and fell an, geyan, s.v. Fell, adj., Gey; 2. fine day, excl. of incredulity or ridicule, "go on!" (Sh., Cai., Abd., Ags., m.Lth., Arg., Ayr. 1952); 3. fine ham, id., mostly in slang usage (Abd.²⁷, Fif.¹³, Gsw., Lnk.¹¹1942); 4. fine that, very well indeed, easily, perfectly so, in emphatic affirmative answers. Gen.Sc. Sometimes in adv. form †finely that; 5.no fine, not good (Sh., Ork., Bnff., Ags., Ayr. 2000s).1. Bnff. 1787 W. Taylor Poems 54:
My coat, by luck, was fine an' braw.Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr Duguid 172:
His breeks were fine and ticht.Sc. 1921 H. Chapin Butterbiggins 18:
I tellt ye he was greetin', John. He's fine an' disappointed.Abd.¹⁶ 1941:
From a fruiterer's advertisement: "Fine and ripe."3. Rnf. 1928 G. Blake Paper Money 55:
"Your duty's at home, Quentin". . . . "Fine ham!" grumbled Quentin boorishly.4. Abd. 1865 G. Macdonald Alec Forbes xlvii.:
"Ye min' that bit aboot the Lord . . .?" "Ay, fine that," answered Annie.ne.Sc. 1888 D. Grant Keckleton 186:
"Do you understand his sermons?" "Finely that, Mem."Sc. 1939 St Andrews Cit. (30 Dec.) 6:
"Ah," said the doctor, [to a patient who had been unconscious], "but how do you know you are alive now?" "Fine that," was the reply, "If I was in Heaven I wouldna be hungry, and if I was in Hell I wouldna hae cauld feet."5. Ags. 1967 William Allen Illsley ed. The Third Statistical Account of Scotland: the county of Angus (1977) 479:
Montrose people...have some quaint colloquialisms. They speak of a situation as 'no fine' rather than not good - 'no bad' when they mean very satisfactory.

†IV. v. 1. To sort out wool by separating the fine from the coarse parts (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 34).Sc. 1728 Ramsay Poems 285:
Auld Homer sang for 's daily Bread; Surprising Shakespear fin'd the Wool.Wgt. 1733 Session Bk. Wigtown (1934) 453:
In October last when she was at Balmeg frining [sic] wool to Agnes Gordon, his sister.Sc. 1892 R. Cochran-Patrick Mediev. Scot. 46:
In each parish competent persons were to be appointed to teach the poorer children to fine and spin wool.

2. Only in Scott: to get better after an illness. A pun on the obs. Eng. law phrase fine and recover(y) in connection with the conveyance of entailed land. Cf. Shakespeare Hamlet v. i.Sc. 1831 Scott Journal (27 April):
I feel, on the whole, better than I have yet done. I believe I have fined and recovered, and so may be thankful.