fade
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /feɪd/
ipa: /fæɪd/
rhymes: -eɪd
Forms: form: fades
form: fading
form: faded
form: faded
form: vade
Etymology: From Middle English fade, vad, vade (“faded, pale, withered, weak”), from Middle Dutch vade (“weak, faint, limp”), from Old French fade (“weak, witless”), of obscure origin. Probably from Vulgar Latin *fatidus, from Latin fatuus (“insipid”).
Senses: examples: text: The Golden Bear faded the ball from left to right with great consistency, so he seldom had to worry about trouble on the left.
ref: 2011, Gary McCord, Golf For Dummies, page 284:
topics: golf
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To hit the ball with the shot called a fade.
examples: text: The earth mourneth and fadeth away.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 24:4:
glosses: To grow weak; to lose strength; to decay; to perish gradually; to wither, as a plant.
examples: text: [flowers] that never fade
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. To display them the walls had been tinted a vivid blue which had now faded, but the carpet, which had evidently been stored and recently relaid, retained its original turquoise.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
glosses: To lose freshness, color, or brightness; to become faint in hue or tint; hence, to be wanting in color.
examples: text: The milkman's whistling faded into the distance.
text: He makes a swanlike end, / Fading in music.
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
text: 1856, Eleanor Marx-Aveling (translator), Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part III Chapter XI,
A strange thing was that Bovary, while continually thinking of Emma, was forgetting her. He grew desperate as he felt this image fading from his memory in spite of all efforts to retain it. Yet every night he dreamt of her; it was always the same dream. He drew near her, but when he was about to clasp her she fell into decay in his arms.
text: So many people have come and gone
Their faces fade as the years go by
ref: 1976 August 25, Tom Scholz, “More Than a Feeling”, in Boston, performed by Boston:
text: They say your love will surely fade girl
When things go wrong and trouble calls
ref: 1968 December 8, Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy, Stevie Wonder, “I’d Be a Fool Right Now”, in For Once in My Life, performed by Stevie Wonder, Tamla Records:
text: And with that, I think we'll leave 2021's tail lamp to fade into the distance.
ref: 2021 December 29, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Problems galore in 2021...”, in RAIL, number 947, page 3:
glosses: To sink away; to disappear gradually; to grow dim; to vanish.
glosses: To cause to fade.
examples: text: I tried to get some bets that y'all were fixin' to get married but nobody would fade me.
ref: 2016, Johnny Hughes, A Texas Beauty, Smart and Strong:
topics: gambling
games
glosses: To bet against (someone).
Synonyms: sense: grow weak, lose strength
word: weaken
sense: grow weak, lose strength
word: wither
sense: lose freshness, color, or brightness
word: blanch
sense: lose freshness, color, or brightness
word: bleach
sense: sink away
word: decrease
sense: sink away
word: diminish
sense: sink away
word: wane
Derived terms: antifader
beauty fades, dumb is forever
crossfade
fade away
fade in
fadeometer
fade out
fade to black
fade to white
fadometer
neverfade
prefade