finery

finery

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfaɪnəɹi/

Noun

finery (countable and uncountable, plural fineries)

1. (obsolete) Fineness; beauty.
2. (countable) Ornament; decoration; especially, excessive decoration; showy clothes; jewels.
3. (ironworking) A charcoal hearth or furnace for the conversion of cast iron into wrought iron, or into iron suitable for puddling.
   • 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 160:

     In front of the finery hearth in which the sow is melted down again, the finer is working with a long iron bar called a ringer (from French 'ringard') with which he keeps the molten iron in motion by stirring, an essential stage in the process of refining.

Related terms

• fine

Translations

fineness — see fineness

excessive decoration, showy clothes, jewels

Bulgarian: премяна (bg) f (premjana), натруфеност (bg) f (natrufenost) Finnish: kruusaus (decoration), hepenet (fi) pl (clothes), helyt (fi) pl (jewels)

Maori: whakapaipai

charcoal hearth

Bulgarian: пещ за рафиниране f (pešt za rafinirane)

See also

• (charcoal hearth): refinery