On Sun, 11 Jan 2004, M J wrote:
>("Disappear" is now an intransitive AND a transitive verb. Mark will
>back me up on this, or I'll cry at him.)
Mark's a great guy, as well as being secretly Mario. Fortunately, you
don't need to get on his bad side, because the venerable Oxford
English Dictionary already says that disappear is both intransitive
and transitive. So you may cheerfully disappear your tears.
1. a. intr. To cease to appear or be visible; to vanish from sight.
The reverse of APPEAR. Also with advb. expressions introduced by
prepositions.
1667 MILTON P.L. VIII. 478 She disappeerd, and left me dark, I
wak'd To find her, or for ever to deplore Her loss.
[...]
3. trans. To cause to disappear.
1897 Chem. News 19 Mar. 143 We progressively disappear the faces
of the dodecahedron.
1949 Amer. Speech XXIV. 41 The magician may speak of disappearing
or vanishing a card.