# vanish

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## English

### Etymology

Aphetic for obsolete evanish, from Middle English, borrowed from Old French esvanir, esvaniss- (modern French évanouir), from Vulgar Latin *exvanire (to vanish, disappear, to fade out), from Latin evanescere, from vanus (empty).

### Verb

vanish (third-person singular simple present vanishes, present participle vanishing, simple past and past participle vanished)

1. To become invisible or to move out of view unnoticed.
2. (mathematics) To become equal to zero.
The function ${\displaystyle f(x)=x^{2}}$ vanishes at ${\displaystyle x=0}$.

### Noun

vanish (plural vanishes)

1. (phonetics) The brief terminal part of a vowel or vocal element, differing more or less in quality from the main part.
a as in ale ordinarily ends with a vanish of i as in ill.
o as in old ordinarily ends with a vanish of oo as in foot.
(Can we find and add a quotation of Rush to this entry?)
2. A magic trick in which something seems to disappear.
The French drop is a well-known vanish involving sleight of hand.

#### See also

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 The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.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 vanish in
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)