[-ING2.]
† 1. Rarefying, attenuating. Obs.
1611. Cotgr., Subtiliant, extenuating, subtilizing.
1673–4. Grew, Anat. Pl., III. II. iv. 132. That so the attenuating and subtilizing Aer, may have a more easie … admission at the Trunk.
1725. Bradley’s Fam. Dict., s.v. Broom, It’s of a provoking and subtilizing nature, and injurious to the Heart and Stomach. Ibid., Goose-Grass, It’s somewhat abstersive and desiccative, and its Parts are a little subtilizing.
2. That draws subtle distinctions; given to or characterized by subtle reasoning or disputation.
1839. De Quincey, Recoll. Lakes, Wks. 1862, II. 146. Raising a cross-fire of artillery from the subtilizing intellect.
1872. Minto, Engl. Prose Lit., I. i. 71. His subtilising turn of mind.
1881. A. P. Stanley, in Macm. Mag., XLIII. 208/1. The liberty sought for was not to be attained by open and legal methods, but by crooked and subtilizing explanations.
