into thin air

English

Etymology

Popularized by Shakespeare, see quotations.

Pronunciation
  • Audio (AU)(file)

Prepositional phrase

into thin air

  1. (idiomatic) Immediately and inexplicably out of sight.
    He seemed to vanish into thin air.
    • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 15, column 1:
      Our Reuels now are ended: Theſe our actors, / (As I foretold you) were all Spirits, and / Are melted into Ayre, into thin Ayre, / And like the baſeleſſe fabricke of this viſion

Usage notes

This is normally preceded by vanish or disappear.

Translations
Translations

See also
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