Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FADE, v.i. [Fr. fade, insipid, tasteless. Qu. L. vado, or Ar. نَفِدَ nafeeda, to vanish, Syr. to fail, to err. See Class Bd, No. 48, 39, 44.]

1. To lose color; to tend from a stronger or brighter color to a more faint shade of the same color, or to lose a color entirely. A green leaf fades and becomes less green or yellow. Those colors are deemed the best, which are least apt to fade.
2. To wither, as a plant; to decay. Ye shall be as art oak, whose leaf fadeth. Is. i.
3. To lose strength gradually; to vanish. When the memory is weak, ideas in the mind quickly fade. Locke.
4. To lose luster; to grow dim. The stars shall fade away. Addison.
5. To decay; to perish gradually. We all do fade as a leaf. Is. lxiv. An inheritance that fadeth not away. 1 Pet. l.
6. To decay; to decline; to become poor and miserable. The rich man shall fade away in his ways. James i.
7. To lose strength, health or vigor; to decline; to grow weaker. South To disappear gradually; to vanish.