Verb

(refin)

To reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities; to free from dross or alloy; to separate from extraneous matter; to purify

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.

To purify from what is gross, coarse, vulgar, inelegant, low, and the like; to make elegant or excellent; to polish.

To become pure; to be cleared of feculent matter.

To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence.

To affect nicety or subtlety in thought or language.

Verb

(en verb)

To change greatly the appearance or form of.

The alchemists sought to transform lead into gold.

* Shakespeare

Love may transform me to an oyster.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April

, author= , title=Well-connected Brains , volume=100, issue=2, page=171 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work. The achievement will transform neuroscience and serve as the starting point for asking questions we could not otherwise have answered, […].}}

To change the nature, condition or function of; to change in nature, disposition, heart, character, etc.; to convert.

* Bible, Romans xii. 2

Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.

(mathematics) To subject to a transformation; to change into another form without altering the value.

(electricity) To subject to the action of a transformer.

(genetics) To subject (a cell) to transformation.

To undergo a transformation.