Anile
Pronunciation
Origin
From Latin anīlis, from anus ("old woman").
“anile, a.†listed in the Oxford English Dictionary 2
nd
Full definition of anile
Adjective
anile
- Characteristic of a crone or a feeble old woman.
- 1844, Sydney Smith, The Works of Sydney Smith, “Wittman’s Travels†(Edinburgh Review, 1803), pages 248–249Dr. Wittman, too, was passing over the same ground trodden by Bonaparte in his Syrian expedition, and had an ample opportunity of inquiring its probable object, and the probably success which (but for the heroic defence of Acre), might have attended it ; he was on the theatre of Bonaparte’s imputed crimes, as well as his notorious defeat ; and might have brought us back, not anile conjecture, but sound evidence of events which must determine his character, who may determine our fate.
- 1880, Robert Alfred Vaughan, Hours with the mystics : a contribution to the history of religious opinion, page 347Romanticism, so sanguine and so venturous in its revolutionary youth, grew anile in its premature decrepitude ; mumbled its credos ; cursed its heretics — and died.