evanescent, a.
(ɛvəˈnɛsənt)
[a. Fr. évanescent, ad. L. ēvānescent-em, pr. pple. of ēvānescĕre (see evanesce).]
1. That is on the point of vanishing or becoming imperceptible. In Mathematics, said of a diminishing quantity: That is at the instant of becoming zero; infinitesimal. Hence transf. of things: Imperceptibly minute, too small to perceive.
| 1717 J. Keill Anim. Œcon. (1738) 41 The smallest Capillaries or evanescent Arteries. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. i. 31 To render the crime evanescent or almost nothing. a 1761 J. Cawthorn Wit & Learn. Poems (1771) 73 How the moon was evanescent, Was now an orb, and now a crescent? 1770 Horsley in Phil. Trans. LX. 437 note, The particles of light, which fall upon the evanescent zone..are as that evanescent annular space which they cover. 1811 Wood Optics iv. 56 The limiting ratio of an evanescent arc to its sine is a ratio of equality. 1849 M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. xxvi. 276 A quantity so evanescent that it is hardly possible to conceive a time when a change will become perceptible. 1882 Proctor Fam. Sc. Studies 29 Our knowledge..has in reality but an evanescent range. |
2. That quickly vanishes or passes away; having no permanence. Said of appearances, conditions, impressions, etc.
| 1738 Thomson Spring 148 The melting Pulp Of mellow Fruit, the nameless Nations feed[s] Of evanescent Insects. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 60 ¶11 The incidents which give excellence to biography are of a volatile and evanescent kind. 1784 Cowper Task v. 167 A scene Of evanescent glory. 1816 R. Jameson Char. Min. (1817) 301 Evanescent, when the colour remains as long as the mineral is in a state of fusion, but disappears on cooling. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxxi, The Duke of Rothsay, whose virtuous feelings were as easily excited as they were evanescent. 1836 Hor. Smith Tin Trump. (1876) 271 [The] Pen which gives ubiquity of permanence to the evanescent thought of a moment. 1876 Duhring Dis. Skin 41 Maculæ are evanescent or permanent according to their cause. |
b. Bot. Of parts of plants: Not permanent.
| 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) IV. 189 Curtain white, evanescent. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 361 Liparis..glands evanescent. |
Hence evaˈnescently adv.
| 1847 in Craig. 1865 Bushnell Vicar. Sacr. ii. iv. 142 Evanescently dim to our feeling. 1873 Argosy XVI. 290 The colour flitted evanescently. 1881 Daily News 25 July 5/2 Kindliness, slightly and almost evanescently..tempered by a sort of indulgent scorn. |