Definition of "subtilize"

subtilize

verb
third-person singular simple present subtilizes, present participle subtilizing, simple past and past participle subtilized
1. (transitive) To make subtle; to make thin or fine; to make less gross or coarse.
2. (transitive) To refine; to spin into niceties.
  Quotations
  Nor as yet have we subtilized ourselves into savages.
  1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […]
3. (intransitive) To use subtle arguments or distinctions.