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Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; -- applied to persons; as, a subtle foe. "A subtle traitor." Shak.

The quality or state of being subtle; subtlety.

The quality or state of being subtle, or sly; cunning; craftiness; artfulness. The fox which lives by subtlety. Shak.

To subtle. Shak.

pable of being answered or refuted; admitting a satisfactory answer. The argument, though subtle, is yet answerable. Johnson.

Caviling; subtle disputation. [Obs.]

Sagacious; acute; subtle; shrewd. The active preacher . . . the argue schoolman. Milman.

In a subtle; shrewdly.

Subtle; cunning; astute. [R.] Sir W. Scott. -- As*tu"cious*ly, adv. [R.]

Critically discerning; sagacious; shrewd; subtle; crafty.

ility." Bp. Stillingfleet. -- Col"or*a*ble*ness, n. -- Col"or*a*bly, adv. Colorable and subtle crimes, that seldom are taken within the walk of human justice. Hooker.

ing the admission of a truth; confutation. For all his tedious talk is but vain boast, Or subtle shifts conviction to evade. Milton.

To dissolve or melt. [R.] Swords by the lightning's subtle force distilled. Addison.

nce, manifesting exhilaration or excitement, as of feeling; effervescing. "Ebullient with subtlety." De Quincey. The ebullient enthusiasm of the French. Carlyle.

Nice; delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; skillful; dexterous. The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! Pope. The nicest and most delicate touches of satire consist in fine raillery. Dryden. He has as fine a hand at picking a pocket as a woman. T. Gray.

Blended; passing into each other by subtle gradations; -- said of colors or of the surface or material on which the colors are laid.

Making excessively nice or trivial distinctions in reasoning; subtle. -- n.

Cunning; deceit; deceptive practices to effect a purpose; subtle argument; -- an opprobrious use of the word.

Jesuitism; subtle argument. [R.] Carlyle.

hread is able to penetrate the flesh of various small, soft-bodied animals, and carries a subtle poison by which they are speedily paralyzed and killed. The threads, at the same time, hold the prey in position, attached to the tentacles. Some of the jellyfishes, as the Portuguese man-of-war, and Cyanea, are able to pen…