Part 934

Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground [bowling ground].

Shak.

Syn. -- Artful; crafty; cunning; shrewd; sly; wily. Subtle is the most comprehensive of these epithets and implies the finest intellectual quality. See Shrewd, and Cunning.

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Sub"tle*ness (?), n. The quality or state of being subtle; subtlety.

Sub"tle*ty (?), n.; pl. Subtleties (#). [OE. sotelte, sutilte, OF. sotillete, L. subtilitas. See Subtle, and cf. Subtility.] 1. The quality or state of being subtle, or sly; cunning; craftiness; artfulness.

The fox which lives by subtlety.

Shak.

2. Nice discernment with delicacy of mental action; nicety of discrimination.

3. Something that is sly, crafty, or delusive.

Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.

Shak.

Sub"tly (?), adv. In a subtle manner; slyly; artfully; cunningly.

Thou seest how subtly to detain thee I devise.

Milton.

2. Nicely; delicately.

In the nice bee what sense so subtly true.

Pope.

Subtly communicating itself to my sensibilities, but evading the analysis of my mind.

Hawthorne.

3. Deceitfully; delusively. [Obs.] Shak.

Sub*ton"ic (?), a. (Phonetics) Applied to, or distinguishing, a speech element consisting of tone, or proper vocal sound, not pure as in the vowels, but dimmed and otherwise modified by some kind of obstruction in the oral or the nasal passage, and in some cases with a mixture of breath sound; -- a term introduced by Dr. James Rush in 1833. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§155, 199-202.

Sub*ton"ic, n. 1. (Phonetics) A subtonic sound or element; a vocal consonant, as b, d, g, n, etc.; a subvocal.

2. (Mus.) The seventh tone of the scale, or that immediately below the tonic; -- called also subsemitone.

Sub*tor"rid (?), a. Nearly torrid.

Sub*tract" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Subtracted; p. pr. & vb. n. Subtracting.] [L. subtractus, p. p. of subtrahere to draw from beneath, withdraw, remove; sub under + trahere to draw. See Trace, v. t., and cf. Substract.] To withdraw, or take away, as a part from the whole; to deduct; as, subtract 5 from 9, and the remainder is 4.

Sub*tract"er (?), n. 1. One who subtracts.

2. The subtrahend. [Obs.]