▪ I. finny, a.1
(ˈfɪnɪ)
[f. fin n.1 + -y1.]
1. Provided with or having fins; finned.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. viii. 29 Proteus..Along the fomy waves driving his finny drove. 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arth. iv. 52 The Finny or the Feather'd Kind. 1850 Blackie æschylus I. 142 With finny monsters teems the sea. |
b. nonce-use. Of a person: With arms like fins.
| 1883 F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius vii, Miss Skeat..looked tall and finny. |
2. Of the nature of a fin; like a fin.
| 1648 Herrick Hesper. (1869) 338 Never againe shall I with finnie-ore Put from or draw unto the faithfull shore. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 133 Finny substances, standing out from each side like wings. |
3. a. Of or pertaining to fish. b. Teeming with fish. Cf. fin n.1 1 c.
| 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 187 He..With patient angle, trolls the finny deep. 1831 Blackw. Mag. XXX. 965 Instinctive all with finny life. 1867 J. B. Rose tr. Virgil's æneid 99 The headlong osprey..skims the finny flood. |
▪ II. † ˈfinny, ˈvinny, a.2 Obs. exc. dial.
[OE. fyniᵹ, f. fyne mould. Cf. fenny.]
Mouldy.
| a 1722 Vinney [see finewy]. 1861 Ramsay Remin. Ser. ii. p. xxix, ‘I can't eat un [a loaf], zur: it be soa vinny.’ I discovered that he meant ‘mouldy’. 1863 Barnes Dorset Dial. 97 Blue vinny, or vinnied, cheese. |
▪ III. finny
see finnip.