Forms: 4 subtilete, 4–6 subtilte(e, 5–6 -tylte(e, 5–7 -tialtie, -tiltye, 8 -tilety, 5– subtilty. [Alteration of ME. sutilte, SUBTLETY after SUBTILE. Cf. SUBTILITY.
Now used as an occas. variant of SUBTLETY in moral and intellectual senses.]
† 1. Acuteness, penetration, perspicacity; = SUBTLETY 1. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sompn. T., 582. They seyde subtiltee And heigh wit made hym speke as he spak.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 3. Commonly called thangelical doctor, for the subtiltie of his witte [orig. ob acumen ingenii].
1611. Bible, Prov. i. 4. To giue subtiltie to the simple, to the yong man knowledge and discretion.
1651. Hobbes, Leviathan, I. xi. 49. A better stratagem, than any that can proceed from subtilty of Wit.
1748. Hartley, Observ. Man, I. iii. § 1. 298. The Subtilty and Extent of his intellectual Faculties.
† 2. Skill, cleverness, dexterity; = SUBTLETY 2.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Nun’s Pr. T., 499. Ther nys no comparison Bitwixe the wisedom and discrecion Of youre fader and of his subtiltee.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, III. viii. (1883), 148. Hit is gretter subtilte to kepe well his owne goodes.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Solertia,… craftinesse, or subtiltie in practisinge good or ill.
1660. H. Bloome, Archit., C j b. Wit and subtilty in the Art of working in stone.
3. Cunning, craftiness, guile; = SUBTLETY 3.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, V. 1254. What subtilte, what newe lust … haue ye to me? Ibid. (c. 1386), Sqr.’s T., 132. She shal his treson see, His nowe loue, and al his subtiltee.
1515. Barclay, Egloges, iii. (1570), C j/1. Blinded with fraude and subtiltie.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 525. The Englishemen entered by subtiltie into the gate, and so gat the Dongeon.
1594. Nashe, Unfort. Trav., 3. That olde adage, Much curtesie, much subtiltie.
1617. Moryson, Itin., II. 16. Having experienced his false subtiltie, and knowing that he sought delaies onely till he could have aide from Spaine.
1671. Milton, P. R., I. 144. Let him [sc. Satan] tempt and now assay His utmost subtilty.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 144 ¶ 1. Subtilty furnishes Arms to Impudence, and Invention leads on Credulity.
1834. Newman, Par. Serm., I. xix. 294. Beware then of the subtilty of your Enemy.
† 4. A cunning or clever device, artifice, stratagem; = SUBTLETY 4. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Car. Yeom. T., 291. To lerne a lewed man this subtiltee. Ibid. (c. 1386), Wife’s Prol., 576 (Selden MS.). I bar him on honde he had enchaunted me, My dame taughte me that subtilte.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., XI. 290. Grekis haue an other subtiltee.
1471. Caxton, Recuyell (Sommer), 229. He began to … auyse hym of a grete subtylte for to come to hys entente.
1558. G. Cavendish, Poems (1825), II. 142. At the last this subtiltie I fand.
1576. Turbervile, Venerie, xvi. Of the Nature and Subtilties of Hartes.
1655. E. Terry, Voy. E. India, ii. 103. Nature hath taught them this subtilty … to build their Nests in the twigs, and the utmost boughs of those Trees.
1722. De Foe, Plague (1754), 38. A Subtilty of one of those Quack-operators with which he gull’d the poor People.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Rom. Hist. (1827), III. 97. A treasure of subtilties and stratagems of infinite value.
† 5. Cookery. = SUBTLETY 5. Obs.
c. 1504. in Leland, Collectanea (1775), VI. 25. A Subtiltie, a Kyng syttyng in a Chayre with many Lordes about hym.
1513. Bk. Keruynge, in Babees Bk. (1868), 272. Fruyter vaunte, with a subtylte.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 216 b. The first course … was xxviii dishes besides subtilties and shippes made of waxe mervailous gorgious to beholde.
[1861. Our Engl. Home, 70. Notices of the ‘subtilties,’ as the ornamental dishes were called, are curious.]
† 6. Thinness, tenuity, rarity; = SUBTLETY 8.
a. 1395. Hylton, Scala Perf. (W. de W., 1494), II. xlvi. By the self lyght maye the soule see the fairhede of angels … the subtylte of hem in substaunce.
1579. Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 167. He … doeth transfourme the bodye of Christe into the subtiltie and thinnesse of a spirite.
1599. Sir J. Davies, Nosce Teipsum, II. clxxx. Nought tyes the Soule, her subtiltie is such.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 216. The Subtilties of Articulate Sounds … may passe thorow Small Crannies, not confused.
a. 1676. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., I. i. 8. Some things though they are … near unto us, yet are of that subtilty that they escape our Senses.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 179. He supposes the subtilty of this fluid to be so great, that it penetrates the pores of all bodies.
fig. 1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 13, ¶ 14. The Threads of Reasoning. are frequently drawn to such Subtilty, that common Eyes cannot perceive … them.
† b. Acuity, pungency, penetratingness. Obs.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 101. The fat of a Leopard is grosse and sharp, it’s subtiltie appeares in those that have a pulse in their temples, and the vertigo, the smell thereof being taken whilest it is rosting.
1794. G. Adams, Nat. & Exp. Philos., I. i. 28. From the subtilty of the effluvia of bodies retaining their particular properties.
7. Excessive nicety or refinement in argument, etc.
c. 1550. Rolland, Crt. Venus, II. 111. In argumentis full of subtialtie.
1790. Burke, Rev. France, 86. I have nothing to say to the clumsy subtilty of their political metaphysics.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), V. 452. These reasons savour of a wonderful subtilty.
1869. Lecky, Europ. Mor., I. 236. Subtilty of motives, refinements of feeling.
b. An instance of this, esp. pl.; = SUBTLETY 7.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, III. v. (1883), 120. He is reputed most sage and wise that argueth and bryngeth in moste subtyltes.
1651. W. G., trans. Cowel’s Inst., 125. All those Roman subtilties are dissolved into the ancient Law of Nations.
1669. Hale, Rolle’s Abridgm., Pref. Conversant in subtilties of Logick, Philosophy and the Schoolmen.
1681. Stair, Inst. Law Scot., II. xxvi. 89. A new Subtilty was invented, to frustrat the Falcidian Law.
1713. Derham, Phys. Theol., 3. Such as are unacquainted with the Subtilties of Reasoning and Argumentation.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 11, ¶ 2. The numerous lovers of subtilties and paradoxes.
1830. Mackintosh, Eth. Philos., Wks. 1846, I. 55. Some part of the method and precision of the Schools was lost with their endless subtilties and their barbarous language.
1866. Felton, Greece, Anc. & Mod., II. 194. In the courts … the subtilties of argument … had … long been … reduced to system.
† 8. Delicacy, fineness (of physical objects, movements). Obs.
1616. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, II. i. 86. The subtilty o’ my yest.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 98. Whatsoeuer is Inuisible, either in respect of the Finenesse of the Body it selfe;… Or of the Subtilty of the Motion.
1660. Bloome, Archit., B j b. The one after mans shape,… the other with womans subtilty.
1691. Ray, Creation, I. (1704), 197. How would he have admired the immense Subtilty of their Parts.
1794. G. Adams, Nat. & Exp. Philos., III. xxix. 186. An active medium … which … can so far deceive us by the subtilety of its vibrations.
