a.; also 6–7 agill, 7 agil. [a. Fr. agile (14th c.) ad. L. agil-is, f. ag-ĕre to do. A by-form was AGILIOUS.] Having the faculty of quick motion; nimble, active, ready.
c. 1577. Northbrooke, Dicing (1843), 52. To make one more freshe and agilite [? agile], to prosecute his good and godly affaires.
1581. W. Stafford, Exam. Compl., I. (1876), 23. Wee be not so agill and light as fowles & Byrdes.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., III. i. 171. His agile arme, beats downe their fatall points.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., 3. The exercise of the Intellective Faculty makes it agil, quick, and lively.
1766. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1859), I. 5. He cast it from him with a sudden agile jerk.
1844. Thirlwall, Greece, VIII. lxi. 96. The advantages of a robust and agile frame.
1872. Blackie, Lays of Highl., 156. Whose agile tongue doth flit From theme to theme with change of wordy war.
† 2. Easily moved. Obs.
1694. Westmacott, Script. Herb., 80. All agree that it [Gophir] was a solid, light, agile wood.
