Search the Dictionary

p. pr. & vb. n. of Disappear.

Dropping off or disappearing early, as the calyx of a poppy, or the gills of a tadpole.

The act of disappearing; cessation of appearance; removal from sight; vanishing. Addison.

Act of disappearing; disappearance. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

African antelope (Oreas canna). It is valued both for its hide and flesh, and is rapidly disappearing in the settled districts; -- called also Cape elk.

Partly swallowed; disappearing in the jaws of anything; as, an infant engouled by a serpent; said also of an ordinary, when its two ends to issue from the mouths of lions, or the like; as, a bend engouled.

A sudden burst of light; a flood of light instantaneously appearing and disappearing; a momentary blaze; as, a flash of lightning.

To move quickly, appearing and disappearing rapidly; to be visible only for an instant at a time; to move interruptedly; to twinkle. And all along the forum and up the sacred seat, His vulture eye pursued the trip of those small glancing feet. Macaulay.

A disappearing gun carriage in which the recoil is checked by cylinders containing liquid and air, the air when compressed furnishing the power for restoring the gun to the firing position. It is used with some English and European heavy guns.

the pulse curve or sphygmogram shows but a single crest, the dicrotic elevation entirely disappearing.

scular spasm, accumulation of flatus, etc., simulating an actual tumor in appearance, but disappearing upon the administration of an anæsthetic.

ular systole, radiating from the semilunar valves over the arterial system, and gradually disappearing in the smaller branches. the pulse wave travels over the arterial system at the rate of about 29.5 feet in a second. H. N. Martin. -- To feel one's pulse. (a) To ascertain, by the sense of feeling, the condition of th…

ht or perception, or, as it were, moving over or across a space or scene viewed, and then disappearing; hence, of short duration; not permanent; not lasting or durable; not stationary; passing; fleeting; brief; transitory; as, transient pleasure. "Measured this transient world." Milton.

quickly bleached by light, passing through the colors, red, orange, and yellow, and then disappearing. Also called rhodopsin, and vision purple. See Optography. -- Visual ray, a line from the eye, or point of sight. -- Visual white (Physiol.), the final product in the action of light on visual purple. It is reconver…