diaphanous, a.
(daɪˈæfənəs)
Also 7 diaphaneous.
[f. med.L. diaphan-us (see diaphane) + -ous. The form diaphaneous more closely represented the Gr.: cf. diaphaneity.]
Permitting the free passage of light and vision; perfectly transparent; pellucid.
| 1614 Raleigh Hist. World i. i. §7 Aristotle calleth light a quality inherent, or cleauing to a Diaphanous body. 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter ii. 4 In hell there shall be nothing diaphanous, perspicuous, clear. c 1645 Howell Lett. I. i. xxix, To transmute Dust and Sand to such a diaphanous pellucid dainty body as you see a Crystal-Glasse is. 1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 10 The diaphaneous texture of the particles in the vitrioline solution. 1680 Boyle Scept. Chem. v. 326 The one substance is Opacous, and the other somewhat Diaphanous. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxxii. 500 The fructifications are in a diaphanous membrane. 1833 Penny Cycl. I. 450/2 The crystals of the amethyst vary from diaphanous to translucent. 1868 Duncan Insect World ii. 59 The wings are whitish, not diaphanous. 1895 The Lady 31 Jan. 133 With this was worn a diaphanous white picture hat caught up with..white ribbons. |
Hence diˈaphanously adv., in a diaphanous manner, transparently; diˈaphanousness, diaphanous quality, transparency.
| 1683 E. Hooker Pref. Epist. Pordage's Mystic Div., Most Diaphanously, perspicuously, no less clearly..than the Sun Beams upon a Wall of Crystall. 1710 T. Fuller Pharm. Extemp. 220 As here order'd 'twill be diaphanously clear. 1727 Bailey vol. II, Diaphaneity, Diaphanousness, the property of a diaphanous Body. 1969 A. Glyn Dragon Variation i. 4 A pot-bellied shah was reclining on cushions..while a diaphanously veiled maiden knelt before him, offering a cup. |