▪ I. misty, a.1
(ˈmɪstɪ)
Also 1 mistiᵹ, 4 myisti, misti, 4–5 mysti, 4–6 mysty, (6 -tie), 6–7 mistie, 4– misty.
[OE. mistiᵹ. f. mist (see mist n.1) + -iᵹ, -y. Cf. MLG., MDu. mistich.]
1. a. Covered with, clouded or obscured by, mist; accompanied or characterized by mist; consisting of mist.
| Beowulf 162 Atol æᵹlæca ehtende wæs,..seomade and syrede, sinnihte heold mistiᵹe moras. a 1327 in Rel. Ant. I. 265 Eyr mysty whose syth [in a dream], Desturbaunce that bith. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1060 For I have seyn, of a ful misty morwe Folwen ful ofte a mery someres day. c 1430 Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. 24 Whan that the misty vapour was agoon And clere and faire was the morowning. c 1460 Russell Bk. Nurture 911 in Babees Bk., Wheþur hit be feyre or foule, or mysty alle withe reyn. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. v. 10 And Iocond day Stands tipto on the mistie Mountaines tops. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 157 The night being dark and misty, and the moon giving little light. 1682 Wood Life (O.H.S.) III. 29 Misty and rimy morning. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. II. lii. 73 The misty rains..penetrated even the thick fur I was wrapped in. 1817 Wolfe Burial Sir J. Moore ii, By the struggling moon-beam's misty light. 1858 Masson Milton I. 720 The mistier north is forgotten, and he longs to make Florence his home. 1877 Tennyson Harold iii. ii, Two young lovers in winter weather, None to guide them, Walk'd at night on the misty heather. |
b. Clouded with fine particles resembling mist.
| 1833 Tennyson Miller's Dau. 104 The very air about the door Made misty with the floating meal. 1885 Manch. Exam. 4 May 5/3 The air is in fact quite misty with the fine impalpable dust. |
c. Blurred or blinded as with a ‘mist’ of tears.
| 1859 Tennyson Enid 1620 Not so misty were her meek blue eyes As not to see before them on the path. 1897 Romance of Lady Barton II. 745, I never took my misty eyes off Trieste and our home. |
d. Having the appearance of being shrouded in mist; indistinct in form or outline.
| 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xii, The long-drawn prospect faded into misty light. 1818 Shelley Rosal. & Helen 1198 A troop Of misty shapes did seem to sit Beside me. 1833 N. Arnott Physics (ed. 5) II. 207 The light from adjoining points will mix at the edges, and will render the images misty and indistinct. 1898 St. James's Gaz. 12 Jan. 12/1 Striped across..in a misty admixture of colouring. |
2. fig. (often with literal phraseology retained). a. ‘Dark’; obscure; unintelligible.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 181 Ac theologie hath tened me ten score tymes, The more I muse þere-Inne þe mistier it semeth. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 156 Þes wordis ben mysty and derke to þe puple. 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. xii. v. in Ashm. (1652) 185 Thys mysty talkyng. 1494 Fabyan Chron. 2 Ryght mysty storyes, doughtfull and vnclere. c 1530 Interl. Beauty & Gd. Prop. Women B iij b, The wordes whych thou spekyst in my presence Be so mysty, I perseyue not thy sentence. 1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 32 The Philosopher..is so hard of vtterance, and so mistie to bee conceiued, that [etc.]. 1603 Florio Montaigne ii. xii. (Frowde) 236 Wherefore hath Heraclitus beene surnamed σκοτεινὸς, ‘a darke mysty clowded fellow’? 1624 Gataker Transubst. 201 What not mysticall, but mistie riddles are these? 1755 Johnson, Misty{ddd}2. Obscure; dark; not plain. |
b. Resembling mist; obscuring, causing ignorance. Obs.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. (Percy Soc.) 2 To drawe a curtayne I dare not to presume, Nor hyde my matter with a misty smoke. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. I. 150/1 Liuing in a time of palpable blindnesse and mistie superstition. a 1631 Donne Elegy on Mrs. Boulstred Poems (1654) 260 Blinde were those eys, saw not how bright did shine Through fleshes misty vaile those beams divine. |
c. Not illuminated with the ‘light’ of reason, faith, truth, etc.
| 1616 Hayward Sanct. Troub. Soul i. §3. 59 Mollifie my stony heart, illuminate my misty minde. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. iii. iv, Shed in my mistie breast thy sparkling light. 1669 Penn No Cross xx. §14 (1682) 511 Though times began to look somewhat mistier, and the purity and spirituality of Religion to be much declined. 1748 Johnson Van. Hum. Wishes 144 Should Reason guide thee with her brightest ray, And pour on misty Doubt resistless day. 1811 W. R. Spencer Poems 185 No beam of real fire My misty nature ever knows. |
d. Of thought, speech: Having no definite ‘outline’ or character; vague, indistinct. Said also of writers with reference to style or exposition.
| 1816 J. W. Croker in C. Papers 28 Nov. (1884), That misty pomp of language which you..think laudable. 1855 Geo. Eliot Ess., Evang. Teaching (1884) 157 Their sense of truthfulness is misty and confused. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. iv. 58 A misty recollection hovering about it in our minds. 1890 Gross Gild Merch. I. 94 The jurists had not yet shrouded the notion in misty complexity. |
e. Of persons: Clouded in intellect.
| 1822 Blackw. Mag. XII. 101 And over a skin of Italy's wine To get a little misty. 1848 H. Rogers Ess. (1874) I. vi. 316 A little too misty readily to follow the argument, they got drowsy. |
3. Comb.: parasynthetic, as misty-brained; adverbial, as misty-bright, misty-dark, misty-magnific, misty-soft adjs. misty-eyed adj., that brings tears to the eyes; having tears in one's eyes.
| 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. i. 1 Through the misty-darke times of which Stories..I am lastly approached to these times of more light. 1649 Heylin Hist. Indep. ii. 80 marg., For this you must take the faith of the mysty-brayned Pen-man, who had this..by Revelation. c 1810 Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1838) III. 210 Paragraphs so vague and misty-magnific as this is. 1860 Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. vii. iv. §6. 140 The rain-clouds in the dawn..not shining, but misty-soft. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. I. vii. 215 The air was misty-bright. 1886 Pall Mall G. 5 Oct. 11/2 A misty-visioned political sect. 1956 W. H. Whyte Organization Man (1957) iii. xiii. 156 He can grow as misty-eyed as the next man at the banquet honoring the Grand Old Man. 1974 M. Cecil Heroines in Love vi. 151 Misty-eyed emotion and passionate declarations of love. |
Hence ˈmistyish a., somewhat misty.
| 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies ii. iv. 202 Mistyish Heaven. |
▪ II. † ˈmisty, a.2 Obs.
[app. the prec. adj. used by form-association for L. mysticus.]
Pertaining to, involving, or characteristic of spiritual mysteries; mystical, spiritual.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 286 And so þre mysty wittis ben tokened in þe same story. c 1420 Lydg. Commend. Our Lady 134 Thou misty arke, probatik piscyne. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. x. 203 O Sion, mysti douȝter. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 330 The mysty or spyrytuall body of cryste. 1570 Levins Manip. 111/42 Mystie, mist, nebulosus. Mysty, mistery, mysticus. |