evanescent

adj

1. Disappearing, vanishing.

   “He cannot ſuppreſs his diſapprobation […] of thoſe evaneſcent echoes of ſchool philoſophy, faint-warbling through the grove of letters, to the injury of natural and ſcientific knowledge, and the annoyance of English literature.”

   “The sea was each little bird's great playmate. […] In their airy flutterings, they seemed to rest on the evanescent spray.”

   “I trust your love which will work wonders; and I trust my own, which sprang at a look but only gathered strength and permanence when I found that the soul of the man I love bettered his outward attractions, making the ideal of my foolish girlhood seem as unsubstantial and evanescent as a dream in the glowing noontide.”

2. Disappearing, vanishing.

   “Consequently, the electromagnetic fields have plane-wave characteristics in local regions, except immediately adjacent to a caustic where there is a rapid transition from the wavelike behavior of the local plane-wave fields to the evanescent behavior beyond the ray path.”

   “The analyte directly affects the optical properties of a waveguide, such as evanescent waves (electromagnetic waves generated in the medium outside the optical waveguide when light is reflected from within) or surface plasmons (resonances induced by an evanescent wave in a thin film deposited on a waveguide surface).”

3. Disappearing, vanishing.

   “And what are theſe Fluxions? The Velocities of evaneſcent Increments? And what are theſe ſame evaneſcent Increments? They are neither finite Quantities, nor Quantities infinitely ſmall, nor yet nothing. May we not call them the Ghoſts of departed Quantities?”

   “Some hold the evaneſcent increments to be real quantities, ſome to be nothings, ſome to be limits. As many Men, ſo many minds: Each differing one from another, and all from Sir Iſaac Newton.”

   “[Leonhard] Euler emphasized that the derivative is the ratio of the evanescent differentials and said that the integral calculus was concerned with finding the function itself.”

4. Barely there; almost imperceptible.

   “If the Fluids moving in an Evaneſcent Artery [i.e., a capillary] appear Globular, I ſuppose its becauſe the Canal is round, which alters the Caſe much.”

   “Here are Sholes and Sholes, of various Characters, and of the moſt diverſified Sizes; from the gigantic Whale, whoſe flouncings "tempeſt the Ocean," to the evaneſcent Anchovy, whoſe Subſtance diſſolves in the ſmalleſt Fircaſſee.”

   “Her face too was fresh in colour, but it was of a totally different quality—soft and evanescent, like the light under a heap of rose-petals.”

   “While he was speaking the hands on the face of the clock behind the great man's back—a heavy, glistening affair of massive scrolls in the same dark marble as the mantelpiece, and with a ghostly, evanescent tick—had moved through the space of seven minutes.”

   “If in the middle of summer the water of Turkey Creek […] is whipped and beaten with a stick, and then if a fire-brand is passed over, a mist is enkindled and a faint evanescent flame runs over the entire width of the brook.”

5. Ephemeral, fleeting, momentary.

   “It is to be obſerved, farther, that when we annihilate any thing in our Mind, we conſider it as ſomething evaneſcent, and removed out of Sight; […]”

   “But alas! how momentary was the bliss!—the evaneſcent viſion ſoon fled, and the youthful queen [Mary, Queen of Scots] was arrayed in the melancholy garb of widowhood!”

   “She comforted him by words of the happiest import, uttered in low tones—but words that sealed their impress on the memory and the heart; but she was now so worn, and appeared so evanescent, that every instant he feared she would expire before him. Isabella saw his suffering, and suggested that "he had better depart—she would herself remain."”

   “In times of strong emotion mankind disdain all base considerations; but such times are evanescent. The permanent constitutional condition of the manufactured man, thought Ahab, is sordidness.”

6. Ephemeral, fleeting, momentary.

   “Upward it [the "apennine adonis", probably the Pyrenean pheasant's eye (Adonis pyrenaica)] is of a pale green, with ſome Tinge of yellowiſh; and it is all the Way duſted with little grey tranſparent Globules. Theſe are the Extremities of ſo many round evaneſcent ſecretory Ducts; as the Hairs of other Plants are the more permanent Extremities of theirs.”

   “Per[ianth]. Berry from the receptacle elongated into a cup globular, ſucculent, gaging at the top, colour'd, at length waſting from dryneſs, evaneſcent.”

   “Leaves solitary or numerous, sometimes evanescent or rarely wanting, radical or cauline, alternate or occasionally whorled, simple, varying from a sheathing bract to a definite blade which is membranaceous, papyraceous, coriaceous or fleshy, flat or plicate, usually parallel-veined.”