Subtilty

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Subtilty \Sub"til*ty\, n. [Contr. fr. subtility.]
     1. The quality or state of being subtile; thinness; fineness;
        as, the subtility of air or light.
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     2. Refinement; extreme acuteness; subtlety.


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              Intelligible discourses are spoiled by too much
              subtility in nice divisions.          --Locke.
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     3. Cunning; skill; craft. [Obs.]
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              To learn a lewd man this subtility.   --Chaucer.
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     4. Slyness in design; artifice; guile; a cunning design or
        artifice; a trick; subtlety.
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              O full of all subtility and all mischief. --Acts
                                                    xiii. 10.
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     Note: In senses 2, 3, and 4 the word is more commonly written
           subtlety.
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