▪ I. fin, n.1
(fɪn)
Forms: 1 finn, 3–7 finne, (7 finn), 4–5 fyn(ne, (south. vyn(ne), 7– fin. Also 7 phin.
[OE. finn str. masc., cognate with the synonymous MDu. vinne (mod.Du. vin) fem., MLG. finne fem.; the mod.Ger. finne is prob. adopted from LG. The L. pinna fin is prob. the same word.]
1. a. An organ attached to various parts of the body in fishes and cetaceans, which serves for propelling and steering in the water. With prefixed adj., as anal, caudal, dorsal, pectoral, ventral, etc., indicating the part to which the organ is attached. Applied also to similar organs in other animals, as the flipper of a seal, the modified wing of a penguin, etc.
| c 1000 ælfric Lev. xi. 9 Ne ete ᵹe fisc buton þa þe habbaþ finnas & scilla. a 1225 St. Marher. 9 Þe fisches þat i þe flodes fleoteð wið finnes. c 1300 K. Alis. 6591 They liveth, so theo heryng..Feet and hond buth heore vynnes. c 1400 Rom. Rose 7008 Swimme..Bet than a fish doth with his finne. c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. 104 Take a Sturgeon, and kut of the vyn fro the tayle to þe hede, on þe bakke. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 107 The..fish had on euery side a wing, and toward the taile two other lesser as it were finnes. 1671 Milton P.R. ii. 345 All fish..of shell or fin. 1699 W. Hacke Coll. Voy. ii. 62 Penguins..have..only two Fins or Flaps, wherewith they are helped to swim. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xii. (1803) 253 If you cut off the pectoral fins, i.e. the pair which lies close behind the gills, the head falls prone to the bottom. 1883 W. H. Flower in Encycl. Brit. XV. 395/1 Balænoptera [has] a small falcate dorsal fin. |
b. (fish) of every fin:
= of every species.
Cf. feather.
| 1725 Pope Odyss. xix. 134 Fish of every fin thy seas afford. |
c. A finned animal; a fish.
| 1549 Latimer 6th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 178 Wee..haue not caught one fynne. 1881 Leicestersh. Gloss., Theer 'asn't a fin i' the stank. 1893 Daily News 15 Dec. 5/3 It is to be hoped that Mr. Watson will add fins to fur and feathers. |
† d. Phrase,
to put out one's fins:
fig. ? to bestir oneself eagerly.
| 1461 Marg. Paston in Lett. No. 369 I. 544 And now he and alle his olde felaweship put owt their fynnes, and arn ryght flygge and mery. |
2. Something resembling a fish's fin.
a. jocularly. The arm and hand (of a man), or simply the hand.
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Fin, an arm. 1801 Nelson in A. Duncan Life (1806) 140, ‘I am Lord Nelson; see, here's my fin’..shewing the stump of his right arm. 1855 Smedley H. Coverdale ii. 12 Lend us a fin, old man, for I feels precious staggery-like. Mod. (slang), Tip us your fin (= shake hands). |
† b. The lid (of the eye).
Obs.| 1604 Marston Malcontent i. iii, Here's a knight..shall..ride at the ring Till the fin of his eyes look as blue as the welkin. 1623 Webster Duchess of Malfy ii. i, The fins of her eye-lids look most teeming blue. |
c. The baleen of a whale (?
obs.). Hence, a blade or thin strip of whalebone.
| 1634 T. Johnson Parey's Chirurg. xxv. xxi. 1013 The finnes that stand forth of their [whales'] mouths, which are commonly called Whale-bones, being dryed and polished, serve to make buskes for women. 1706 Lond. Gaz. No. 4238/4 Cut-Whalebone..in Fins. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Fin, a blade of whalebone. |
d. pl. Rubber flippers for the feet, to assist underwater swimming.
| 1960 News Chron. 9 July 6/7 You'd need a pair of fins ({pstlg}1), a mask ({pstlg}1) and a breathing tube. 1967 J. Severson Great Surfing Gloss., Fins, rubber flippers used as aids in swimming or body surfing; called swim fins. |
3. A projecting part.
† a. A lobe of the liver or lungs.
Obs. rare.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 131 In bruite beasts it [the Liuer] is diuided into foure, fiue, or six Lobes or Finnes. Ibid. 385 Each Lung is diuided into two Lobes or Finnes. |
b. A sharp lateral projection on the share or the coulter of a plough.
| 1653 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. 197 Be carefull in keeping your..Share phin as sharp as may be. 1677 [see chep]. 1717 Dict. Rust. s.v. Plough, Some set on the right side of the Coulter a small Wing or Fin, which cuts in two the bottom of the Roots. 1759 tr. Duhamel's Husb. i. viii. (1762) 44 A hollow plow-share..has a fin both ways; which fins must also begin at the point. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 115 When the land is designed to be ploughed clean..a long pointed share, with a small fin or wing, is used. |
c. Mech. (see
quots.).
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 846/2 Fin, a slip inserted longitudinally into a shaft or arbor, and left projecting so as to form a guide for an object which may slip thereon, but not rotate. Ibid. I. 847/1 Fin, a tongue on the edge of a board. 1876 Aitken Guns (Brit. Manuf. Industr.) 21 Presses fitted up with cutting-out tools, punch out, trim, and relieve the stampings from the superfluous metal, or ‘fins’ left after stamping. |
d. In aircraft and rockets,
esp. as a stabilizer (see
quots.).
| 1835 Nautical Mag. IV. 612 An internal balloon is fitted for the purpose of ascending and descending at will, and the whole is intended to be propelled by fins, paddles, or wings. 1852 Illustr. London News XX. 468/1 By means of the handles at the outer sides, the apparatus contained in the case can be turned round at pleasure, and the position of the fins altered, thus enabling the operator to steer the balloon. 1910 C. C. Turner Aerial Navig. iv. 54 Leppig's Balloon, 1812. It was to be driven by a fin propeller, worked by hand. 1911 Chambers's Jrnl. I. 57/2 An aeroplane..supported largely by the pressure against its body, its wings reduced to mere fins, serving to guide its motion. 1920 Discovery Mar. 78/1 An elliptically-shaped gas-bag provided with a conical-shaped tail filled with air, to which a rudder and stabilising fins are attached. 1935 [see anti-icer]. 1935 Jrnl. Brit. Interplanetary Soc. Oct. 13 Fin—wing-like device for stabilizing flight. 1950 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) i. 49 Fin. a. A fixed surface outside the envelope or outer cover of a lighter-than-air aircraft providing aerodynamic stability. b. Those parts of the stabilizers of a kite balloon providing stability in pitch. |
e. A fin-like appendage to a ship's bottom; a fin-keel; also, a centreboard.
| 1885 Marine Engineer 1 Apr. 8/1 But it is possible to fit fins, flappers, or shutters.., to the run of a ship so as to be flush with the plates. 1893 Outing (U.S.) XXII. 147/1 The fin is of Tobin bronze, one-quarter inch thick, six feet long on upper edge. 1897 Ibid. XXX. 468/1 Their hulls..are enormously strong, so as to restrain the heavy weight of the fin. 1949 Jane's Fighting Ships 1949–50 36 Fin stabilisers will be fitted to prevent rolling. |
f. On a motor vehicle. Hence
fin-tailed adj.| 1959 Listener 4 June 982/1 Even family cars are now made impressive with the fins which were once the distinguishing mark of sharks. 1960 Guardian 11 Oct. 8/4 The reluctant mums..are induced to step gingerly out of the fintailed cars. 1968 P. M. Postal Aspects Phonol. Theory xiii. 283 There is no more reason for languages to change than there is for automobiles to add fins one year and remove them the next. |
4. dial. The herb restharrow. Also
fin-weed.
| 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. xviii. (1653) 120 They bear plenty of..Phins, Moss, and Shargrase. 1790 W. Marshall Midl. Count. Gloss., Fin, anonis arvensis, rest-harrow. 1821 Clare Vill. Mistr. I. 204 Where the blushing fin weed's flower Closes up at evening hour. |
5. attrib. and
Comb.:
a. simple attributive, as
fin-apparatus,
fin-membrane;
b. objective, as
fin-cutting vbl. n.;
c. parasynthetic and similative, as
fin-shaped,
fin-tailed,
fin-winged;
fin-like adjs.| 1847–9 Todd Cycl. Anat. IV. 173/2 The connexion which exists between the *fin-apparatus and the body of Clio. |
| 1886 Pall Mall G. 16 Aug. 5/2 Discovering that the pike gorged our perch ravenously with and without their fins..we gave up the *fin-cutting. |
| 1666 Dryden Ann. Mirab. 157 Ere..*fin-like oars did spread from either side. 1889 T. H. Emerson Eng. Idylls 43 He stood in his boat rubbing his fin-like hands. |
| 1874 Wood Nat. Hist. 569 The *fin-membranes are brown. |
| 1835–6 Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 651/2 *Fin-shaped caudal processes. |
| 1892 Ld. Lytton King Poppy Prol. 319 Tritons stall Their *fin-tail'd steeds in azure caverns. |
| 1820 Shelley Vision of Sea 150 A blue shark..The *fin-wingèd tomb of the victor. |
6. Special comb.:
fin-back = finner; also
attrib., as
finback calf,
fin-back whale; also
fin-backed whale;
fin-fish = finner;
fin-foot, (
a) a swimming-foot; a pleiopod; (
b) a name for birds of the genera
Heliornis or
Podica;
fin-footed a.,
Ornith. (
a) web-footed; (
b) having the toes furnished with flaps or lobes, lobate-footed; (
c) ‘in Mollusca, pteropod’ (
Cent. Dict.);
fin-keel, a keel shaped like a dorsal fin inverted;
fin-leg, the leg of an aquatic insect, used as a fin;
fin-ray, one of the hard spiny or soft jointed processes which support the skin of the fins;
† finscale, another name for the
rudd1;
fin-spine, a spine or spiny ray of a fish's fin;
fin-spined a., having spiny fins, acanthopterygious;
fin-toed a. = fin-footed (
b);
fin-weed (see sense 4);
fin-whale = finner.
| 1725 Dudley in Phil. Trans. XXXIII. 258 The *Finback Whale is distinguished from the right Whale, by having a great Fin on his Back. 1851 H. Melville Whale xxxi. 151 The Fin-back is not gregarious. |
| 1843 Zoologist I. 33 *Fin⁓backed whale (Balænoptera boops). |
| 1694 Narborough in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. 3 A *Fin-fish swam by our Ship. 1787 Hunter in Phil. Trans. LXXVII. 375 When they [whales] are of a certain size, they are brought to us as Porpoises; when larger, they are called Grampus, or Fin⁓fish. 1843 Zoologist I. 34 It [a whale] is well known among fishermen..by the names of finner, fin-back, fin-fish. |
| 1849 tr. Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 423 Which appendages..are used in swimming, or are *fin-feet. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XX. 223/2 The..group formed by the..Heliornis, and the..Podica..to which the name ‘Finfoots’ has been applied. |
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. v. i. 234 It [the Pelecan] is.. *fin-footed like Swannes. 1804 T. Bewick Brit. Birds (1847) II. 153 Linnæus..describes it as a genus distinct from..waders in general, on account of its being fin-footed. |
| 1893 Westm. Gaz. 21 Feb. 11/2 Boats..exhibiting all the most recent devices in bulb and *fin keels. |
| 1843 Zoologist I. 57 The *fin-legs could not be well made out. |
| 1863 Spring Lapl. 162 The same, both in shape, colour, number of scales, and *finrays. |
| 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 184 A Fish of the squammous kind, which they call a *Finscale, somwhat like a Roach. 1771 Forster in Phil. Trans. LXI. 318 note, The fish..is supposed to be the same with the rud or finscale. |
| 1876 Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. xiii. 228 Detached *fin-spines known to the palæontologist as ichthyodorulites. |
| 1674 Ray Collect. Eng. Words 91 Such whose toes are divided, which I may call *Fin-toed. 1847 Hill in Gosse Birds of Jamaica 439 A bird with fin-toed feet. |
| 1885 S. Tromholt Aurora Borealis II. 283 The family of whales which have been named *‘fin’ whales, from a fin on the back. |
▪ II. fin, n.2 slang. (
fɪn)
= finnip (see also
quot. 1925). Also
U.S., a five-dollar note; the sum of five dollars.
| 1868 Temple Bar XXIV. 538 ‘What are {oqq}fins{cqq}?’ ‘Five-pound notes, or flash notes.’ 1925 Flynn's 24 Jan. 119/1 Fin,..five dollars; a five-year term. 1949 Penguin New Writing XXXVI. 97 We slipped them a fin apiece. 1953 W. R. Burnett Vanity Row xv. 101 Costs a fin just to check your hat. |
▪ III. fin, v. (
fɪn)
[f. fin n.1] 1. trans. a. To cut off the fins from (a fish).
b. To cut up (a chub).
| 1513 Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. (1868) 265 Fynne that cheuen. 1799 Sporting Mag. XIV. 10 Fin a chub, cut him up. 1853 Fraser's Mag. XLVIII. 694 When he puts the slice into a fish, he truncheons eel, fins chub, [etc.]. |
2. nonce-use. To keep supplied with fish.
Cf. fin n.1 1 c.
| 1808 J. Barlow Columb. viii. 484 Swarms..Repeople still the shoals and fin the fruitful tide. |
3. U.S. Of a fish: To wound with its fins. Also
intr. of a whale,
to fin (out): to lash the water with its fins when dying.
| 1889 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 15 Feb., He had never been bitten by a dog, but..had been finned by fish. |
4. intr. To swim, as a fish; hence used of underwater swimmers. Also
trans.,
to fin it,
to fin a (or one's) passage, way.
| 1807 J. Barlow Columb. viii. 285 Renascent swarms by nature's care supplied, Repeople still the shoals and fin the fruitful tide. a 1861 T. Winthrop Canoe & Saddle (1862) 134 In midsummer salmon fin it along the reaches of Whulge. 1894 Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 140/1 For this [stump] the rascal [trout] steers, as fast as he can fin his way. 1928 T. Hardy Coll. Poems 591 Fishes might seem to fin a passage. 1933 W. de la Mare Lord Fish 36 He grew hungrier and hungrier as he finned softly on. 1964 B. Gaston Drifting Death ii. 24, I jack-knifed down to beyond twenty and finned hard for the yacht. 1964 Guardian 20 May 7/6 You fin slowly down, 15 to 20 feet now. |
5. trans. To provide with fins (sense 3). Usu. as
vbl. n. Hence
ˈfinning vbl. n.| 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 197 Finning and flitching knives. 1933 Meccano Mag. Mar. 193/1 The finning of the head has also received special attention. 1962 Times 8 May 16/5 Pininfarina's finning is sufficient to assist stability and guide the driver when parking. |
▪ IV. fin obs. f. fine.