disappear
verb
- to vanish from sight, be missing or abducted, and/or have an unknown fate (not known if alive or dead)
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /dɪsəˈpɪə/ / /dɪsəˈpɪɹ/ / /dɪsəˈpiːɹ/
verb
Etymology: From Middle English disapeeren, equivalent to dis- + appear. Displaced native Old English fordwīnan. Displaced native Old English cwincan, whose causative persists as quench (“put out (fire)”).
- To vanish.
- To go missing; to become a missing person.
“Eighteen years after Jaycee Dugard disappeared in 1991, she was found alive in the summer of 2009.”
- To go away; to become lost.
“I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields[…]. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair,[…]. My client welcomed the judge […] and they disappeared together into the Ethiopian card-room, which was filled with the assegais and exclamation point shields Mr. Cooke had had made at the sawmill at Beaverton.”
“A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff. These properties were known to have belonged to a toddy drawer. He had disappeared.”
- To make vanish; especially, to abduct or murder for political reasons.
“The Chinese government is well-known for disappearing particularly vocal political dissidents.”
“"Did they disappear him?" "I don’t know." "What will you do if they decide to disappear you?"”