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A cosmetic; a creamlike medicinal preparation. In vain she tries her paste and creams, To smooth her skin or hide its seams. Goldsmith.

ng, or refining the moral and intellectual nature of man; as. the culture of the mind. If vain our toil We ought to blame theculture, not the soil. Pepe.

A vain show; a blustering parade; a flourish; as, to make or cut a great dash. [Low]

A vain fancy speculation; a reverie; a castle in the air; unfounded hope. Mrs. Lambert's little daydream was over. Thackeray.

y or intensely bright; to excite admiration by brilliancy. Ah, friend! to dazzle, let the vain design. Pope.

s. The coin which was adulterated and debased. Hale. It is a kind of taking God's name in vain to debase religion with such frivolous disputes. Hooker. And to debase the sons, exalts the sires. Pope.

To cause delay to; to put off. [Obs.] He demands a fee, And then demurs me with a vain delay. Quarles.

o make deposition. Then, seeing't was he that made you to despose, Your oath, my lord, is vain and frivolous. Shak.

l. To desist from his bad practice. Massinger. Desist (thou art discern'd, And toil'st in vain). Milton.

To drop; to fall in drops; to trickle. Soft showers distilled, and suns grew warm in vain. Pope.

rnatural means. The diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain. Zech. x. 2.

cially by age, so that the mind wanders or wavers; to drivel. Time has made you dote, and vainly tell Of arms imagined in your lonely cell. Dryden. He survived the use of his reason, grew infatuated, and doted long before he died. South.

or named; as, a doubtful case, hue, claim, title, species, and the like. Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good. Shak. Is it a great cruelty to expel from our abode the enemy of our peace, or even the doubtful friend [i. e., one as to whose sincerity there may be doubts] Bancroft.

A visionary; one lost in wild imaginations or vain schemes of some anticipated good; as, a political dreamer.

ct, To no effect, or Without effect, destitute of results, validity, force, and the like; vain; fruitless. "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition." Mark vii. 13. "All my study be to no effect." Shak. -- To give effect to, to make valid; to carry out in practice; to push to its results. -- To ta…

Unable to satisfy; unsatisfactory; hollow; vain; -- said of pleasure, the world, etc. Pleas'd in the silent shade with empty praise. Pope.

a state, or other institutions. He hath established it [the earth], he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited. Is. xlv. 18. Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity! Hab. ii. 12.

ology; as, an excuse for neglect of duty; excuses for delay of payment. Hence with denial vain and coy excuse. Milton.

e, to write or speak fiction ; to write or utter what is not true. "He Fables not." Shak. Vain now the tales which fabling poets tell. Prior. He fables, yet speaks truth. M. Arnold.

A swaggering; vain boasting; ostentation; a bluster. Swift.