fading

See also: fǎdìng

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪdɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪdɪŋ

Verb

fading

1. present participle and gerund of fade.

   fading light;  fading memory;  fading reputation

   • 2013 October 19, Banyan, “The meaning of Sachin”, in The Economist, volume 409, number 8858:

     With fading eyesight and reactions, the runs have dried up. That Mr Tendulkar has nonetheless kept his place in the national [cricket] side is a more dismal exemplum: of the impunity enjoyed by all India’s rich and powerful.

Noun

fading (plural fadings)

1. The process by which something fades; gradual diminishment.
   • 1854, Herman Melville, Israel Potter:

     […] the rude earth of the wall had no painted lustre to shed off all fadings and tarnish […]

2. (obsolete) An Irish dance.
   • 1607 (first performance), Francis Beaumont, “The Knight of the Burning Pestle”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, Act III, scene v:

     Fading is a fine jig.

3. (obsolete) The burden of a song.
   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:

     He has the prettiest love songs for maids, so without bawdry, which is strange with such delicate burdens of dildos and fadings

Derived terms

• Ricean fading
• Rician fading
• Troxler fading
• Troxler's fading

 

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “fading”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)