disappear
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disappear from (something)
1. To become no longer visible. I watched Jill's car drive away until it disappeared from view.
2. To become missing from some place, as if having been removed or become lost (usually to someone's surprise or confusion). I would give you my stapler, but it seems to have disappeared from my desk. That poor little girl disappeared from that school back in the '80s and was never found.
See also: disappear
disappear into the woodwork
To recede or absent oneself from public view; to become or remain hidden in society. The former movie star, never one to disappear into the woodwork, launched a very successful chain of restaurants and eventually ran for public office in Washington state. I think people expected us to disappear into the woodwork after the referendum results, but we made sure to stay firmly in the eye of the public.
disappear into thin air
To vanish completely and without a trace. I would give you my stapler, but it seems to have disappeared into thin air.
disappear off the face of the earth
To vanish completely and without a trace. Has anyone talked to Christina lately? It's like she disappeared off the face of the earth.
disappear without (a) trace
1. To disappear without any indication to one's or something's whereabouts. Police have been searching for two weeks to find a young girl who disappeared without trace from her home in Rochester. Authorities are puzzled by the navy submarine that seemingly disappeared without a trace last Thursday.
2. To be forgotten about by the population as a whole, especially after being very popular. The digital pets fad took the world by storm in the late 1990s, but disappeared without a trace after a few years.
do a disappearing act
To vanish from sight or flee suddenly from a place. My kids always do a disappearing act when I tell them it's time for their chores. The three of us did a disappearing act, heading for the Mexican border so we could leave this all behind us.
pull a disappearing act
To depart or go away very suddenly or without warning, especially so as to avoid doing something. My roommate loves to throw parties here, but she always pulls a disappearing act the next day when everything needs to be cleaned up! Brian is nearly two weeks late finishing his sales report—that's why he's been pulling a disappearing act whenever the boss is around.
disappear from something
to vanish from something or some place, especially from sight, view, or the face of the earth; to have been taken away from something. Jack disappeared all of a sudden last week, as if from the face of the earth. The car pulled away and disappeared from sight down the road.
See also: disappear
do a disappearing act
Vanish, as in As soon as the teacher came outside, Mary did a disappearing act. This expression describes a sudden disappearance as if by magic and presumably alludes to a magician's performance. [Colloquial; early 1900s]
do a disappearing act
go away without being seen to go, especially when someone is looking for you.The suggestion here is that the person has vanished as completely and inexplicably as things vanish in a magician's act.
do/perform/stage a disapˈpearing/ˈvanishing act
(informal) go away or be impossible to find when people need or want you: Ian always does a disappearing act when it’s time to wash the dishes.This refers to a magic trick done by a magician in which they make themselves or another person disappear.disappear/vanish off the face of the ˈearth
disappear completely: Keep looking — they can’t just have vanished off the face of the earth.disappear, etc. into thin ˈair
disappear, etc. suddenly and in a mysterious way: The money vanished into thin air. Nobody knows what happened to it.do a disappearing act
Informal To vanish.