anil
(ˈænɪl)
Also 6 anele, -ill, 6–7 -ile, 7 anneill.
[a. Fr. or Pg. anil = Sp. añil, ad. Arab. an-nīl, i.e. al the + nīl, Arab. and Pers. ad. Skr. nīlī indigo (and -plant), f. nīla dark blue.]
1. The Indigo shrub; the native name of the E. Indian species (Indigofera tinctoria); but in Bot. the trivial name of the W. Indian Indigo (I. Anil).
| 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 91 There is a Meal made of Anil..out of the entire Plant. 1753 Phil. Trans. XLVIII. 257 [Indigo] not of equal value with that made of the anil. 1866 Treas. Bot. 621/2 Indigofera Anil..has become naturalised in Asia and Africa. |
2. The indigo dye.
| 1581 Act 23 Eliz. ix. (Pulton) Cloth..grounded with woad only, or with woad and a nele, alias blew Inde. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. v. xi. (ed. 7) 555 Merchandizes that come from Afrique..Gold, Ivory, Anill, feathers. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 262 They vse to pricke the skinne, and to put on it a kinde of anile or blacking, which doth continue alwayes. 1611 Bk. Rates 1 (Jam.) Anneill of Barbarie for litsters [i.e. dyers], the pound weight thereof—xviijs. 1625 Purchas Pilgrims ii. 1415 Hispahan..vseth great store of Anil. 1852 T. Ross tr. Humboldt's Trav. I. xv. 502 The anil, or indigo, of these provinces has always been considered..as equal..to that of Guatemala. |
3. Chem. Formative (prefix or suffix) of names of aniline compounds or derivatives; as anilide, anilamic = phenylamic, chloranil C6CI4O2.