Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Vanity

Van′i·ty, n.; pl. Vanities (#). [OE. vanite, vanité, L. vanitas, fr. vanus empty, vain. See Vain.]

1. The quality or state of being vain; want of substance to satisfy desire; emptiness; unsubstantialness; unrealness; falsity.

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. Eccl. i. 2.

Here I may well show the vanity of that which is reported in the story of Walsingham. Sir J. Davies.

2. An inflation of mind upon slight grounds; empty pride inspired by an overweening conceit of one's personal attainments or decorations; an excessive desire for notice or approval; pride; ostentation; conceit.

The exquisitely sensitive vanity of Garrick was galled. Macaulay.

3. That which is vain; anything empty, visionary, unreal, or unsubstantial; fruitless desire or effort; trifling labor productive of no good; empty pleasure; vain pursuit; idle show; unsubstantial enjoyment.

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher. Eccl. i. 2.

Vanity possesseth many who are desirous to know the certainty of things to come. Sir P. Sidney.

[Sin] with vanity had filled the works of men. Milton.

Think not, when woman's transient breath is fled, That all her vanities at once are dead; Succeeding vanities she still regards. Pope.

4. One of the established characters in the old moralities and puppet shows. See Morality, n., 5.

You . . . take vanity the puppet's part. Shak.

Syn. — Egotism; pride; emptiness; worthlessness; self-sufficiency. See Egotism, and Pride.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.