fading

See also: fǎdìng

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪdɪŋ/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -eɪdɪŋ

Verb

fading

1. present participle of fade.

   fading light;  fading memory;  fading reputation

   • 2013 October 19, Banyan, “The meaning of Sachin”, in The Economist, volume 409, number 8858:

     With fading eyesight and reactions, the runs have dried up. That Mr Tendulkar has nonetheless kept his place in the national [cricket] side is a more dismal exemplum: of the impunity enjoyed by all India’s rich and powerful.

Noun

fading (plural fadings)

1. The process by which something fades; gradual diminishment.
   • 1854, Herman Melville, Israel Potter

     […] the rude earth of the wall had no painted lustre to shed off all fadings and tarnish […]

2. (obsolete) An Irish dance.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Francis Beaumont; John Fletcher, “The Burning Pestle”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: Printed for Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972, Act 3, scene 5:

     Fading is a fine jig.

3. (obsolete) The burden of a song.
   • c. 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The VVinters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iv]:

     He has the prettiest love songs for maids, so without bawdry, which is strange with such delicate burdens of dildos and fadings

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for fading in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)