Forms: α. 4 soutilete, sutilite, suttellite, 5 sotyllyte, sutillyte. β. 4 soubtilite, subtilitee, 4–6 -tylyte, -tilite, 5 -tylytee, 6 -tel(l)itie, -tillite, -ie, -tellyte, 6–7 -tilitie, 6– subtility. [a. OF. (1) soutilite, sutelite, (2) subtilite, = Pr. subtilitat, It. sottilità, Sp. sutilidad, Pg. subtilidade, ad. L. subtīlitas, -ātem, f. subtīlis SUBTLE a. Cf. SUBTILTY, SUBTLETY.
Now used as the noun of quality of SUBTILE chiefly in the physical senses.]
1. Acuteness, perspicacity; = SUBTLETY 1.
1388. Wyclif, Ecclus. i. 6. To whom was the roote of wisdom schewid? and who knewe the sutilites therof?
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 18. I knew the subtillitie sa weill that he hes ane merwellous foirsicht of all kynd of suspitioun.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., II. 62. Vlysses … excelled all other Greekes in … subtility of wit.
1866. Alger, Solit. Nat. & Man, IV. 187. Masters whose comprehensiveness and subtility of thinking have scarcely been surpassed.
† 2. Skill, cleverness, ingenuity; = SUBTLETY 2.
α. c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, ii. (Paulus), 752. Þai … throw thar suttellite In his wame gert it fosterit be.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 5473. For hyr gret sotyllyte, Thys lady … Prayede hyr … For to helpe make thys bred.
β. 1375. Barbour, Bruce, XX. 305. The gud lord of Dowglass syne Gert mak ane cass of siluir fyne, Anamalyt throu subtilite.
a. 1386. Chaucer, Can. Yeom. T., 818 (Lansd. MS.). And men knewe al my subtilite Be god men wolde haue so grete envie To me … I scholde be dede.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, II. xix. 99. Merlyn lete make by his subtylyte that Balyns swerd was put in a marbel stone.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 333/2. He had subtylytee for teschewe the lyggynge in a wayte of his enemyes. Ibid. (1484), Fables of Auian, v. I … canne gyue remedy to al manere of sekenes by myn arte and subtylyte.
1662. J. Davies, trans. Mandelslo’s Trav., 34. It hath the subtility to swallow down Muscles, and keep them in the stomack, till the heat thereof hath opened the shell.
1669. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, I. Introd. 4. It is the part of a Student, to require subtilitie or exactnesse in every kind.
† 3. Cunning, craftiness; = SUBTLETY 3. Obs.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, X. 38. The king, that in all assays Wes fundyn wiss and awerte, Persauit thair subtilite.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 239. With sleihte and with soubtilite.
1567. Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 99. Defend me from the fals subtellitie Of wickit men.
1567. Satir. Poems Reform., iv. 116. And mylde meiknes sylit with subtilitie.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 228. To signifie how irreligious pastors in holy habittes beguile the simple with subtility.
1611. Bible, 2 Kings x. 19. Iehu did it in subtilitie … that hee might destroy the worshippers of Baal.
a. 1761. Law, Comf. Weary Pilgr. (1809), 59. An earthly animal that only excelled … the beasts, in an upright form and serpentine subtility.
† 4. An instance of this; a cunning or crafty scheme, an artifice, dodge; = SUBTLETY 4. Obs.
α. 1390. Gower, Conf., II. 199. Nou herkne the soutilete.
β. c. 1386. Chaucer, Merch. T., 3 (Harl. MS.). Lo swiche sleighthes and subtilites In wommen.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, Life, 2 b. I shalle fynde a subtylyte that we shall haue no blame ne harme therfore.
1673. Lady’s Call., I. 28. It needs none of those subtilities and simulations, those pretences and artifices.
5. (Excessive) nicety or refinement in argument, etc.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, 855. Haue y not preved thus symply With-outen any subtilite Of speche or grete prolixite?
c. 1400. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), IV. xxviii. 73. Amonges the Romayns at that tyme was had greete subtylite in philosophye.
1534. Whitinton, Tullyes Offices, II. M. The substylyte [sic] and quiddyte is a nother maner of thynge, whan truthe it selfe is fyled or subtylly handled in disputacyon.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learning, I. 20. This same vnprofitable subtilitie or curiositie is of two sorts.
6. An instance of this; esp. pl. = SUBTLETY 7.
1589. Puttenham, Engl. Poesie, II. xi. [xii.] (Arb.), 104. I being very inquisitiue to know of the subtillities of those countreyes, and especially in matter of learning.
c. 1643. Ld. Herbert, Autobiog. (1824), 42. Their tutors commonly spend much time in teaching them the subtilities of Logic.
1764. Mem. Geo. Psalmanazar, 41. Controversies clogged … with sophistry and endless subtilities.
1845. Lingard, Anglo-Saxon Ch., II. 178, note. The subtilities of philosophers.
7. Tenuity, fineness; = SUBTLETY 8.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 43. Þe medicyn þanne muste be hoot & drie with subtiliate [read subtilite] as terebentine to moiste bodies.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 229. The fourth dowry [sc. of the body] is subtilite.
1552. Lyndesay, Monarche, 6169. Subtellyte thay [sc. the blessed] sall haue maruellouslye.
1652. Benlowes, Theoph., VI. lxxv. They … far surpasse the sun-beams in subtilitie.
1707. Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 69. There is no part … in which the Subtility and Suppleness of the Sap more claim our Admiration, than in Trees that are grafted.
1801. Phil. Trans., XCII. 46. The utmost imaginable subtility of the corpuscles of light.
8. Delicacy, intricacy; = SUBTLETY 9.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXII. xxiv. II. 136. There is a reason rendred, full of infinit subtilitie,… Why the same things seem not alwaies bitter or sweet alike in every mans tast.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., III. i. § 15 (1864), 352. An operation of great subtility.
