a. Also 6 fragyll, 8 fragil. [a. F. fragile (14th c.), ad. L. fragil-is, f. frag- root of frangĕre to break. See FRAIL a.]
1. Liable to break or be broken; easily snapped or shattered; in looser sense, weak, perishable, easily destroyed. Also fig.
1607. Shaks., Timon, V. i. 204.
| Their pangs of Loue, with other incident throwes | |
| That Natures fragile Vessell doth sustaine | |
| In lifes vncertaine voyage. |
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 841. Of Bodies, some are Fragile; And some are Tough, and Not Fragile.
a. 1668. Denham, Progr. Learn., 188.
| When subtile Wits have spun their thred too fine, | |
| ’Tis weak and fragile, like Arachne’s line. |
1671. Milton, P. R., III. 387.
| Much ostentation vain of fleshly arm | |
| And fragile arms. |
1756. Blacklock, Soliloquy, 281.
| Secure thy steps the fragile board could press, | |
| Nor feel the least alarm where I had sunk. |
1832. G. R. Porter, Porcelain & Gl., 248. Threads, if existing in great numbers, render the material [glass] extremely fragile.
1836. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxyii. 356. We found the spot so hemmed in by loose and fragile ice that there was no approaching it.
b. Of persons, etc.: Of weak or tender frame or constitution, delicate (= FRAIL, but used with an allusion to the primary sense).
1858. Froude, Hist. Eng., III. xvii. 435. The anxious and impatient people saw as yet but a single fragile life between the country and a disputed succession.
1883. Ouida, Wanda, I. 43. An old lady, but so delicate, so charming, so pretty, so fragile, that she seemed lovelier than all the young ones.
† 2. Liable to err or fall into sin; frail. Obs.
1513. Bradshaw, St. Werburge, I. 1874.
| More lyke an angell by all coniecture | |
| Than a fragyll mayde of sensuall appetyte— | |
| For in vayne pleasures she had no delyte. | |
| Ibid., I. 2775. | |
| Of a wanton prynce folowynge sensualyte | |
| And his fragyll appetyte. |
1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV. (an. 23), 248 b. Suche is the blyndnes of our fraile and fragile nature, euer giuen to carnal concupiscence.
3. quasi-sb. in pl. = fragile articles or goods.
1882. Pall Mall G., 19 June, 10/1. Cases … marked … ‘Fragiles.’
Hence Fragilely adv., Fragileness.
1727. Bailey II., Fragileness.
1864. Webster, Fragilely.
