Văn'ish1, v. i.
[imp. & p. p. VANISHED (văn'isht); p. pr. & vb. n. VANISHING.] [Fr. s’évanouir, vanoyer, Pr. evanir, evanuir, esvanuir, esvanezir, Pg. esvair, esvaecer, It. svanire, Lat. vanescere, evanescere, from vanus, empty, null, vain.]
Sense 1. To pass from a visible to an invisible state; to go out of sight; to be lost to view; to disappear; hence, to disappear gradually; as, vapor vanishes from the sight by being dissipated; a ship vanishes from the sight of spectators on land.
Go, vanish into air; away! Shak.
The champions vanished from their posts with the speed of lightning. W. Scott.
Sense 2. To be annihilated or lost; to pass away; to disappear.
All these delights will vanish. Milton.
Vanishing fraction (Math.), a fraction which reduces to the form 0/0 for a particular value of the variable which enters it, in consequence of the existence of a common factor in both terms of the fraction, which factor becomes 0 for this particular value of the variable. Math. Dict.—Vanishing line (Persp.), the intersection of the parallel of any original plane and the picture; one of the lines converging to the vanishing point. See PERSPECTIVE.—Vanishing point, the point to which all parallel lines in the same plane tend in the representation. Gwilt.—Vanishing stress (Elocution), stress of voice upon the closing portion of a syllable. Rush.