v. Obs. Also 7 finefy, finifie. [f. FINE a. + -(I)FY.] trans. To make fine; to adorn, deck, ‘trick up.’ To finify it: see quot. 1611.
1586. Warner, Alb. Eng., II. x.
| What diuel I wote not made her dote, | |
| She doted on the man: | |
| Her rotten trunke and rustic face | |
| She finified than. |
1611. Cotgr., Pimper, to sprucifie, or finifie it; curiously to pranke, trimme, or tricke vp himselfe.
1678. Mrs. Behn, Sir P. Fancy, IV. iii. Get you gone, and finefy your Knacks.
1708. Motteux, Rabelais, IV. x. (1737), 41. Some of the latter [the Ladies] expecting his coming, dress’d the Pages in Womens Cloths, and finified them like any Babies.
Hence Finified ppl. a.; Finifying vbl. sb.
1628. Wither, Brit. Rememb., II. 2067.
| Some … parted from | |
| Our City walls, as if they had not gone | |
| With Vengeance at their heeles; or waited on | |
| By feares and dangers; but, so finifi’d, | |
| As if their meaning was, to shew their pride | |
| In Country Churches. |
1655. Gurnall, Chr. in Arm., viii. (1669), 267/2. Now while thou art in a natural estate (though never so finified) Old Adam is thy father.
1674. Dryden, The Mall, II. iii. There is such tricking, such licking, patching, and finifying.
