gracile

adj

1. (also, figuratively)Lean, slender, thin.

   “[T]hoſe Trees that are called Firs by the Vulgar (from their near conformity and likeneſs to that Tree) are well known by all Learned Men (by the Redneſs, the Roſinous Nature of the Wood, the Gracil Cones hanging downwards, &c.) to be the true Pitch-Tree, of which there are ſuch great plenty in Norway, Sweden, and other Countries of the North, [...]”

   “Maxillary palpi shorter than the antennæ, the terminal joint small, gracile, subulated; [...]”

   “The finish, the extreme delicacy of his [William Blake's] pencil, in his light gracile forms, marvellouslfy contrast with the ideal figures of his mystic allegories; sometimes playful, as the loveliness of the arabesques of Raffaelle.”

   “Unswathe his Egyptian mummy; and from the folds of fine linen, bestrewn and impregnated with aromatics, you disclose the grave features and gracile bones of a goodly and venerable cat.”

   “The gracile and cuneate nuclei [of the brainstem] take shape before the decussation of the pyramids is fully completed [...]. The gracile nucleus appears in the form of a small irregular mass of gray matter in the interior of the funiculus gracilis. [...] It [the cuneate nucleus] presents a very different appearance from the gracile nucleus, because throughout its whole length the gray nucleus and the fibres of the strand are separated from each other by a sharp line of demarcation.”

2. Of an animal or skeletal element: having a slender frame.

   “This tentative comparison, plus consideration of individual skulls, shows the Neolithic pre-Greeks more Mediterranean than the Greeks, with emphasis on intermediate or gracile Mediterranean rather more than on the rugged Basic White trend, [...]”

   “Where stratified fossil sequences are known, "gracile" fossils precede robust ones. The extremely robust hominids do not appear on the scene until about 2 million years ago, followed shortly thereafter by an "advanced" gracile. Both the advanced gracile and robust forms probably evolved from earlier gracile australopithecines.”

   “At various times since Homo first appeared in Africa, it shared the continent with more robust hominids, perhaps several different species of them. [...] They seem to have evolved from more ‘gracile’ apes (gracile being the opposite of robust). The gracile apes are also placed in the genus Australopithecus, and we too almost certainly emerged from among gracile australopithecine ranks.”

   “We would also expect increasing home-range size in Neanderthals in 'edge' regions (bordering the MLB and the plains), such as south-west France, in response to habitat fragmentation during periods of expansion of open vegetation. A more gracile morphology would have been far more efficient over larger areas.”

3. Graceful or gracefully slender.

   “[A] band of dancers run upon the stage and perform a sylvan dance with gracile wavings of branches or the clinking of cymbals.”

   “Then Herr Spinnell turned his back and got away from there. Followed by the jubliations of the little Klŏterjahn, holding his arm in a certain cautious and stiffly gracile manner, he walked over the gravel with the vehement, yet hesitating steps of one who seeks to hide the fact that he is—inwardly—on the run.”

   “Katafa had taken refuge in the second great pool, a pool some few feet deep and large enough for a person to swim in. The water was tepid and the floor of soft sand, and as she slipped into it, gracile as a serpent, she did not look to see what fish there might be there.”

   “The low women, coiffed, perfumed, / and decked out in high fashion, / Adorn the parlor's plush decor / like debutantes, stepping out / to greet gents with gracile, / fawning caresses and playful leers.”

   “In Ovid's Amores, gracile Elegy, the presiding spirit of Ovid's poetry of unfulfilled desire, confronts ponderous Tragedy [...], only to dismiss her with insouciance: the pleasures and pains of erotic pursuit displace the ostensibly serious matters of tragic verse.”