hone

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A fine-grained whetstone for giving a keen edge to a cutting tool.
2. n. A tool with a rotating abrasive tip for enlarging holes to precise dimensions.
3. v. To sharpen on a fine-grained whetstone.
4. v. To perfect or make more intense or effective: a speaker who honed her delivery by long practice.
5. hone in To move or advance toward a target or goal: The missiles honed in on the military installation.
6. hone in To direct one's attention; focus: The lawyer honed in on the gist of the plaintiff's testimony.
7. v. Informal To whine or moan.
8. v. Informal To hanker; yearn.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A stone used for sharpening instruments that require a delicate edge, and particularly for sharpening razors; an oilstone. A hone differs from a whetstone in being of finer grit and more compact texture. See honestone.
2. n. A thin piece of dry and stale bread; also, an oil-cake.
3. To rub and sharpen on or as on a hone: as, to hone a razor.
4. To linger; delay.
5. n. Delay; lingering.
6. To pine; long; yearn; moan.
7. To long for; crave.
8. n. A kind of swelling in the cheek.
9. n. A circular barrow or hill.
10. A dialectal contraction of hosen, plural of hose.
11. See och hone.

Wiktionary

1. n. A sharpening stone composed of extra-fine grit used for removing the burr or curl from the blade of a razor or some other edge tool.
2. n. A machine tool used in the manufacture of precision bores.
3. v. To sharpen with a hone.
4. v. To use a hone to produce a precision bore.
5. v. To refine or master (a skill).
6. v. To make more acute, intense, or effective.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. Dial.Eng. & Southern U. S. To grumble; pine; lament; long.
2. n. A kind of swelling in the cheek.
3. n. A stone of a fine grit, or a slab, as of metal, covered with an abrading substance or powder, used for sharpening cutting instruments, and especially for setting razors; an oilstone.
4. v. To sharpen on, or with, a hone; to rub on a hone in order to sharpen.
5. v. to render more precise or more effective.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. sharpen with a hone
2. n. a whetstone made of fine gritstone; used for sharpening razors
3. v. make perfect or complete