subtilise

But Browning could not "leave things alone"; he had to analyse, to subtilise -- and this, which comes so well when it is analytic and subtle minds that address us, makes the defect of his work whenever an innocent and ignorant girl is made to speak in her own person.

Browning's Heroines Ethel Colburn Mayne

Let people subtilise upon the matter as much as they please, yet they never will persuade a man of sense that the "Iliad" was the mere result of chance.

The World's Greatest Books — Volume 13 — Religion and Philosophy Various 1909

It was just the touch needed to add a sense of mystic instability to the earth and to subtilise the prosaic farmland into the realm of illusion.

The Jessica Letters: An Editor's Romance Paul Elmer More 1900

In later years the men of this type have tended, not so much to smooth their angularities as to attenuate and subtilise them, and we have Samuel Butler and Goldwin Smith, but in a rougher and more downright form there was much of the same temper in William Stead.

Impressions and Comments Havelock Ellis 1899

In this respect the women of the eighteenth century are better than you: they did not subtilise love in metaphysics [elles n'alambiquaient pas l'amour dans la metaphysique].

Frederic Chopin as a Man and Musician Niecks, Frederick 1888

My boy, do not listen to those who, like me, subtilise on the good and the evil.

The Queen Pedauque Anatole France 1884

We reduce digestion to thought; we subtilise secretions.

Tentation de saint Antoine. English Gustave Flaubert 1850

But to subtilise too much upon this subject must always be ruinous to morality, with all understandings that are not very powerful, _i. e.

The Uncollected Writings of Thomas de Quincey—Vol. 1 With a Preface and Annotations by James Hogg Thomas De Quincey 1822

Our poets subtilise and exaggerate the sentiment, whilst agreeably to the real Italian character, it is a rapid and profound impression, which rather expresses itself by silent and passionate actions than by ingenious language.

Corinne, Volume 1 (of 2) Or Italy R. S. [Illustrator] Greig 1791

What should not we see if we could still subtilise and improve more and more the instruments that help out weak and dull sight?

The Existence of God Fran��ois de Salignac de la Mothe- F��nelon 1683