(~s)
1.
If you refer to someone’s ~, you are referring to the fact that nobody knows where they have gone.
Her ~ has baffled police...
N-VAR: oft with poss
2.
If you refer to the ~ of an object, you are referring to the fact that it has been lost or stolen.
Police are investigating the ~ from council offices of confidential files.
= loss
N-COUNT: usu sing, usu with poss, oft N from n
3.
The ~ of a type of thing, person, or animal is a process in which it becomes less common and finally no longer exists.
...the virtual ~ of the red telephone box.
N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp, oft N of n