subtile

From Latin subtilis (“fine, thin, slender, delicate”), perhaps, from sub (“under”) + tela (“a web, fabric”). See tela, toil.

subtile (comparative subtiler, superlative subtilest)

1. (obsolete) subtle
   • 1819, Francis Bacon, The Works of Francis Bacon, volume 2, page 2:

     And sometimes this perception, in some kind of bodies, is far more subtile than the sense; so that the sense is but a dull thing in comparison of it: we see a weather-glass will find the least difference of the weather, in heat, or cold, when men find it not.

   • 1889, Henry James, The Solution.

     I burst into mirth at this—I liked him even better when he was subtile than when he was simple.

• subtile body

• subtile in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• subtile in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

subtile

1. feminine singular of subtil

subtile

1. inflection of subtil:
   1. strong and mixed nominative and accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative and accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine and neuter singular

subtīle

1. nominative neuter singular of subtīlis
2. accusative neuter singular of subtīlis
3. vocative neuter singular of subtīlis

• subtile in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

subtile

1. Alternative form of sotil

subtile

1. Alternative form of sotil

subtile

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of subtil.