Forms: 6 fynes(se, 7–8 fines(s, 6– finesse. [a. F. finesse = Pr. and Sp. fineza, Cat. finesa t It. finezza:—Com. Rom. *finitia, f. fino FINE a. (Many of the early examples may belong to FINENESS; cf. the spellings playnes, prophaness for plainness, profaneness.)]
† 1. = FINENESS in various senses; purity, degree of purity (of precious metals); clearness (of a liquid); slenderness, delicacy of structure or texture.
1528. Paynell, Salerne’s Regim., H b. Wyne made hotte, by reason of the clerenes and fynes, ouer cometh a mans brayne the soner, febleth the senowes, and hurteth the heed but if hit be taken moderately.
1549. Latimer, 1st Serm. bef. Edw. VI. (Arb.), 35. The fynes of the Silver I can not se.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 59 b. Tamarisk hath much finesse in the partes.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learning, I. iv. § 5. 20. Copwebs of learning, admirable for the finesse of thread and worke.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., Stat. David II., 44. That it be equivalent, & conforme to the current money of England in wecht & fines.
1665. Phil. Trans., I. 66. Sand and Powders of several finesses.
1700–1. Act 12–13 Will. III., c 4 § 3. Silver Vessell Plate … less in finess then according to the Standard of this Kingdom.
† b. Ostentatious elegance or splendour. Obs.
1549. Olde, Erasm. Par. Eph., Prol. ij. Therefore where vnnecessary fynesse wanteth, accept true meanyng playnesse.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xxiii. (Arb.), 273. Prowde speeches, and too much finesse and curiositie is not commendable in an Embassadour. And I haue knowen in my time such of them, as studied more vpon what apparell they should weare, and what countenaunces they should keepe at the times of their audience, then they did vpon th’effect of their errant or commission.
2. Delicacy or subtlety of manipulation or discrimination; refinement, refined grace.
Now rare, and only as a foreign word.
1564. A. B., trans. Jewel’s Apol., L v. To call againe the old fynesse and eloquence that Cicero and Cesar vsed in their dayes in the Latin tonge.
1580. J. Frampton, Monarde’s Dial. of Yron & Steele, 148 b. I doe not speake of the finesse and delicatenesse that there is in sodering of it, and closing of it together, and of the vsing of it in the forge.
1704. F. Fuller, Med. Gymn., Preface. The Accuracy and Perfection of an Operation shall depend upon a certain Finesse.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., Finesse … among us, ’tis chiefly used to denote that peculiar kind of Fineness, Delicacy, or Subtlety perceived in Works of the Mind…. This man understands all the Finesses of his Art. The Substance and necessary Part of a Language is learnt at a little Expence: ’Tis the Finesses and Delicacies that cost the most.
1750. Chesterf., Lett., III. ccxxiv. 15. You cannot conceive what an advantage it will give you in negotiations, to possess Italian, German, and French perfectly, so as to understand all the force and finesse of those three languages.
1782. Cowper, Table-t., 652.
| But he [Pope] (his musical finesse was such, | |
| So nice his ear, so delicate his touch) | |
| Made poetry a mere mechanic art; | |
| And every warbler has his tune by heart. |
1791. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, 2 Aug. Her smile, which was rare, had a finesse very engaging.
1821. Hazlitt, Table-t., I. iv. 90. Tact, finesse, is nothing but the being completely aware of the feeling belonging to certain situations, passions, etc.
1878. A Masque of Poets, 31, A Mood of Cleopatra.
| Where the gold festal goblets stand, | |
| Carved by Lysippus’ rare finesse. |
3. Artfulness, cunning, subtle strategy.
1530. in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. III. I. 298. I knaw ellis the fynes of the man and nayn mayr dowbyll in our realm.
1647. N. Bacon, Discourse of the Laws & Government of England, I. v. (1682), 12. Nor could Austin with his miracles or finess settle one footstep of his Church-policy amongst them.
1713. Steele, Guardian, No. 174, 30 Sept., ¶ 4. Nor shall I speak dishonourably of some little artifice and finesse used upon these occasions.
1798. Jane Austen, Northang. Abb. (1833), I. v. 21. She was not experienced enough in the finesse of love, or the duties of friendship, to know when delicate raillery was properly called for, or when a confidence should be forced.
1869. Rawlinson, Anc. Hist., 202. He [Philip of Macedon] was a master of finesse. Taking advantage of the divided condition of Greece, and of the general prevalence of corruption among the citizens of almost every community, he played off state against state and politician against politician. Masking his purposes up to the last moment, promising, cajoling, bribing, intimidating, protesting, he advanced his interests even more by diplomacy than by force, having an infinite fund of artifice from which to draw, and scarcely ever recurring to means which he had used previously.
4. An artifice, stratagem, trick.
1562. J. Shute, Cambine’s Turk. Wars, 4. When the Turcke dyd understande this fynesse of Scanderbeg, and the victorie of the Hungarianes, he had so greate sorowe.
1615. Daniel, Hymen’s Triumph, Poems (1717), 111.
| Your subtler Spirits, full of their Finesses, | |
| Serve their own Turns in others Businesses. |
1756. Monitor, No. 27, 7 Feb., ¶ 12. The project … is … as delicate a Finesse in politicks, as has been played for many a year.
1790. Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., II. 281. The privateer then stood towards Spithead, where, by way of finesse, she saluted the Admiral under English colours, then stood off again, and fired five guns more, supposed to be a signal for some spy to come off to her.
1839. Times, 6 April, in Spirit Metrop. Conserv. Press (1841), I. 196. Lord John though cordially sensible to the merits of a bold finesse, makes known, in the cautious language of the shrewd old distich—
| ‘If to keep in you think, by going out, | |
| The way, at least, is something roundabout.’ |
b. In whist: (see quot.).
1862. ‘Cavendish,’ Whist (1870), 28. A finesse is an endeavour, by the second or third player, to obtain or keep the command of a suit by heading a trick with an inferior card, though holding a higher one of the suit not in sequence.
