[ad. F. effacer (= Pr. esfassar), f. L. ex out + facies face.]
1. To rub out, obliterate (writing, painted or sculptured figures, a mark or stain) from the surface of anything, so as to leave no distinct traces.
1611. Cotgr., Effacer. To efface, deface, raze, blot, rub out, wipe away; to abolish.
1780. Cowper, Progr. Err., 279. So coin grows smooth … till Caesar’s image is effaced at last.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, II. xxi. The ignominious images, painted on the public buildings … were effaced.
b. In wider sense: To cause to disappear entirely, do away with (a visible feature or object).
1843. Prescott, Mexico (1850), I. 105. The close of a cycle, when the sun was to be effaced from the heavens, the human race from the earth.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxiv. (1856), 192. Small pools of water, which would be effaced again, soon after they were formed.
1870. F. R. Wilson, Ch. Lindisf., 83. The entrance through the tower has been effaced.
c. Crystallography.
1823. H. J. Brooke, Introd. Crystallogr., 214. A right square prism … may result from … an octahedron with a square base, by the concurrence … of the modifications a and e … when those modifications efface the primary planes.
2. To expunge, erase (words or sentences) from a written composition or document. Now only in fig. sentences.
1737. Pope, Hor. Epist., II. i. 279. Fluent Shakspeare scarce effac’d a line.
1805. N. Nicholls, Lett., in Corr. w. Gray (1843), 40. The lines of Mason which were effaced and replaced by these.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 440. Perhaps the passions excited by the tyranny of James might make it impossible to efface the penal laws from the statute book.
3. fig. To obliterate, wipe out (a memory, a mental impression); to ‘blot out,’ pardon, obtain oblivion for (an offence); to abolish, destroy (distinctive characteristics, etc.).
1490. Caxton, How to Die, 21. That effacest … the synnes of theym that ben repentaunt.
a. 1626. Bacon, in Webster, Efface from his mind the theories and notions vulgarly received.
1703. Pope, Thebais, 822. ’Tis thine t’ efface With virtuous acts thy ancestor’s disgrace.
1738. Wesley, Psalms, li. i. In tender Mercy look on me, And all my Sins efface.
1857. Buckle, Civiliz., viii. (1873), 456. An impression had been made upon the popular mind which it was hardly possible to efface.
1874. Morley, Compromise (1886), 194. If such a proposition is true, the world must efface its habit of admiration for the … heroes of the past.
4. fig. To cast utterly into the shade, reduce to virtual nonentity. b. refl. [after Fr. s’effacer]. To reduce oneself to insignificance; to abandon or forfeit one’s claim to consideration.
1716–8. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., I. xxxvii. 143. Her beauty effaced everything I have seen.
1871. M. Collins, Mrq. & Merch., II. ii. 30. Amy Gray was … quite effaced.
Mod. As a politician he has completely effaced himself by this act of imprudence.
