into thin air

into thin air

Completely gone or disappeared; entirely out of sight or reach; without a trace. (Usually preceded by "vanish" or some similar verb.) The brutal dictatorship was so mercilessly efficient that anyone who stood up against it soon vanished into thin air. I have no idea where my keys have gone. They seem to have disappeared into thin air!
See also: air, thin
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

into thin air

Also, into the blue. Completely disappeared, as in The report was here on my desk and now it's gone, vanished into thin air, or I don't know where they've gone-into the blue, for all I know. Both of these hyperbolic expressions, often preceded by vanish as in the first example, use the rarefied atmosphere far above the earth as a metaphor for an unknown location. Shakespeare wrote of ghosts that "melted . . . into thin air" ( The Tempest, 4:1). An antonym for both is out of thin air, meaning "from an unknown place or source." For example, She made up this excuse out of thin air, or The car appeared out of thin air. However, out of the blue is not precisely an antonym (see under out of a clear blue sky).
See also: air, thin
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

into thin air

COMMON If someone or something disappears or vanishes into thin air, they disappear completely and nobody knows where they have gone. Her husband snatched their two children and disappeared into thin air for years. Needless worry can vanish into thin air once you accept the things you cannot change.
See also: air, thin
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

into (or out of) thin air

into (or out of) a state of being invisible or nonexistent.
See also: air, thin
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • into the blue
  • disappear off the face of the earth
  • disappear/vanish off the face of the earth
  • off the face of the earth
  • take a chainsaw to (something)
  • chainsaw
  • from the face of the earth
  • suffer under
  • suffer under (one)
  • trace out
References in classic literature
So your grave, middle-aged family practitioner vanishes into thin air, my dear Watson, and there emerges a young fellow under thirty, amiable, unambitious, absent-minded, and the possessor of a favourite dog, which I should describe roughly as being larger than a terrier and smaller than a mastiff."
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Carthoris had followed the creature for but a few minutes when it disappeared as suddenly and mysteriously as though dissolved into thin air.
Thuvia Maid of Mars
They had simply vanished into thin air, for the native he had sent to inspect the ground beneath the open window had just returned to report that there was no sign of a footstep there, and what sort of creatures were they who could have dropped that distance to the soft turf without leaving spoor?
Son Of Tarzan
Do as thou find'st Permission from above; thou canst not more." He added not; and Satan, bowling low His gray dissimulation, disappeared, Into thin air diffused: for now began Night with her sullen wing to double-shade The desert; fowls in their clay nests were couched; And now wild beasts came forth the woods to roam.
Paradise Regained
He said: "Dave did not vanish into thin air, did he?
Don't let terror driver hoodwink you, jury told
KARACHI -- Pakistan People's Party (PPP) senior leader Manzoor Hussain Wassan has predicted that MQM-Pakistan and London, Pak SarZameen Party (PSP) and Mohajir Quami Movement will vanish into thin air.
MQM, PSP, Mohajir Quami Movement to vanish into thin air: Manzoor Wassan
These four forward-looking individuals are among a mere handful of MPs - Austin Mitchell is another - who actually understand that 97% of the purchasing power in circulation is not created by any public agency (ie, the Treasury, the Bank of England), but must be conjured up out of thin air in the form of 'loans' from the highstreet banks to their customers disappearing back into thin air as those loans are repaid.
Redressing debt balance; Views of the North
Many modern-day illusionists are happy to make a rabbit jump out of a hat or a bird disappear into thin air. Not the Department for works and pensions.
Figures fall as if by magic; FEEDBACK
He's made things disappear vanish into thin air, "how did he do that ?" it makes me want to swear.
Poet's corner; The Magician
In the first week of December, equity analysts at Goldman Sachs warned London's blue-chip index - the FTSE 100 - was about to see more than 15% of its value evaporate into thin air, with a plunge to around 4,700 by February 29.
Concern over uncertainty; pound NOTES
Her liquid movement can evaporate into thin air. In Opal Loop/Cloud Installation #72503, from 1980, her galloping, rocking and shaking fade into the clouds.
Take me disappearing
Imelda was just 22 when she disappeared into thin air after collecting her dole money in Waterford in 1994.
Family endure 16yrs of torture
INTO THIN AIR: DEATH ON EVEREST Five, 3.05pm Peter Horton and Christopher McDonald star as mountaineers caught in a storm as they try to scale the famous peak.
FILMS OF THE DAY
All the unhappiness, the pain, and distress, There's suffering too, everywhere What a dream it would be, if all poverty, Could vanish, into thin air.
Your Poem
Does it vanish into thin air as soon as they get it or do they spend it on something else because they've forgotten what it was for in the first place?
Letter: YOUR SHOUT - How can OAPs not afford fuel?