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. trans. 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, trans. 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 ANILINE, anilamic = PHENYLAMIC, chloranil C6Cl4O2.
