▪ I. vanishing, vbl. n.
(ˈvænɪʃɪŋ)
[f. the vb.]
1. The action or fact of disappearing.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1502 And forth sche wente, and made a vanysshynge. 1473 J. Warkworth Chron. (Camden) 22 Afore the vanyschynge therof, it apperyd in the evynynge. 1611 Cotgr., Esvanouissement,..a vanishing out of sight. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World iii. (1634) 7 As where it tels of Nebuchadnezzar his owne vanishing away. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 44 ¶1 Thunder and Lightning..at the Vanishing of a Devil. 1824 Byron Juan xvi. xxiv, There was no great cause To think his vanishing unnatural. 1886 Athenæum 9 Oct. 463/3 Amongst the vanishings and disappearances of the ‘unfit’. |
2. vanishing point: in perspective, the point in which receding parallel lines, if continued, appear to meet; also fig. Similarly vanishing line, vanishing plane.
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XIV. 183/2 Produce CB..and draw PV parallel to it... V is its vanishing point. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 711 Distance of a vanishing point, is the distance from the vanishing point on the picture to the eye of the spectator. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVII. 493 A plane W, which will be termed the vanishing plane of the original one. Ibid., The vanishing line and parallel of the vertex. 1851 Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 90 In Millais' ‘Mariana’..the top of the green curtain in the distant window has too low a vanishing-point. 1885 C. Leudesdorf Cremona's Proj. Geom. 5 The point I{p}, the image of the point at infinity I, is called the vanishing point of a{p}. Ibid. 21 In every plane σ passing through O lies a vanishing line i{p}, which is the image of the point at infinity in the same plane. Ibid., This plane ϕ{p}, which may be called the vanishing plane. 1913 Times 7 Aug. 8/2 The danger of operation, gas operation, is retreating to a vanishing point. 1963 Lancet 12 Jan. 96/2 Routine application of this test reduces to vanishing-point the mortality from air embolism during neurosurgery in the sitting position. |
3. vanishing act, vanishing trick.
| 1923 H. C. Bailey Mr. Fortune's Practice vi. 160 She goes off walking at night with nothing but what she stood up in. If you ask me to believe she meant to do the vanishing act..I can't see how it's likely. 1981 P. Mallory Killing Matter vii. 79 He's chosen to pull a vanishing act just when the painting is lifted. |
| 1973 G. Sims Hunters Point xviii. 174 At the end of the path Jaeckel disappeared and it was Buchanan's turn to stop, momentarily at a loss..mystified by the vanishing trick. |
▪ II. vanishing, ppl. a.
(ˈvænɪʃɪŋ)
[f. the vb.]
1. Disappearing from sight or from existence.
| 1434 Misyn Mending Life 108 So þat þou sulde..despyse abidynge þingis & to vanischynge þingis drawes. 1567 Trial Treas. (Percy Soc.) 18 To seke such thinges as be permanent, And not such as are of a vanishing kinde. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. lxi. 6 Not a vanishing prosperitie, but a stedye and substantiall gladnesse. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 124 If they remaine abroad in the aire,..they grow as light as any vanishing or softer substance. 1658 Rowland tr. Moufet's Theat. Ins. 951 The uncertainty of this vanishing life. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) II. 75 Casting at me a vanishing glance, she was out of sight in an instant. 1833 Rush Human Voice (ed. 2) 263 Of the Vanishing Stress. Ibid. 285 Of the Vanishing Emphasis. 1879 Geo. Eliot Theo. Such vi. 129 To make the discomfort..a vanishing quality. 1887 Athenæum 8 Oct. 461/1 Only a vanishing remnant lingers in the South Pacific. |
2. Math. Becoming zero.
| 1823 J. Mitchell Dict. Math. & Phys. Sci. s.v., We have the following rule for finding the value of vanishing fractions. 1838 Penny Cycl. X. 403/1 Much discussion has arisen as to whether vanishing fractions have values or not. 1892 J. Edwards Diff. Calculus (ed. 2) i. 5 When the limit of a quantity is zero.., the quantity is said to be a vanishing quantity for those values. |
3. vanishing cream, a cosmetic cream that is readily absorbed by the skin; also fig.
| 1916 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 11 July 14/5 (Advt.), Pond's Vanishing Cream. 1923 W. A. Poucher Perfumes & Cosmetics iii. vi. 390 Vanishing Creams..consist of stearic acid, partially saponified with alkali, the bulk of the fatty acid being emulsified by the soap thus formed. a 1951 in M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 47/2 It's like your wife's vanishing cream—not greasy or sticky. 1981 E. Ambler Care of Time ix. 149 If his luck holds, he's getting the defectors' vanishing-cream treatment..somewhere in North America. |
Hence ˈvanishingly adv.
| 1870 tr. Clausius in Lond. etc. Philos. Mag. Aug. 127 The divisor t..must accordingly cause the term to become vanishingly small with very great values of t. 1881 Shairp Asp. Poetry viii. 239 Some momentary gleam..that has fleeted vanishingly over earth and sea. |