mischief

▪ I. mischief, n.
    (ˈmɪstʃɪf)
    Also 4–5 mes-, 4–6 mys-, mis-; 4 -chif, -cheyf, -chive, chyve, 4–5 -cheef, -cheff(e, -chyef, 4–6 -chef(e, -cheve, Sc. -cheif(f), 5 -cheeffe, Sc. -cheyff, 6 -cheefe, -chyfe, Sc. -cheif(f)e, -sheif, 6–7 -chiefe, 7 -chieve; also 4 mechef, myshef, 6 mishief, mychief; pl. 4 -cheves, -cevis, 4–5 -chevys, 6 -chives, 6–7 -chieves, 5– -chiefs.
    [a. OF. meschief, meschef, mechef (mod. méchef), vbl. n. f. meschever (see mischieve): cf. Pr. mescap, OCat. menyscab, OSp. mescabo, OPg. mazcabo (Sp., Pg. menoscabo loss, deterioration).]
    † 1. a. Evil plight or condition; misfortune; trouble, distress; in ME. often, need, want, poverty. Obs.

a 1300 Cursor M. 20050 Womman sal peris o na barn, Ne nan wit mischiue be forfarn. c 1325 Song Deo Gratias 49 in E.E.P. (1862) 125, I schal seie Deo gracias In myschef and in bonchef boþe. c 1350 Will. Palerne 5131 Be merciabul to alle men þat in mechef arn. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 493 He ne lafte nat, for reyn ne thonder, In sikness ne in meschief, to visyte The ferrest in his parisshe. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxviii. 287 That no man ȝeve him..nouther of Mete ne Drynk: and so schalle he dye in myschef. 1433 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 424/2 They bee nowe in grete myschief and necessite. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xii. 12 The kyng and the yong Spencer, seyng theym selfe thus beseged in thir myschiefe, and knewe no Comfort that myght come to them. 1590 C'tess Pembroke Antonie 1997 O breast where death (Oh mischief) [orig. (hà méchef)] comes to choake vp vitall breath. a 1605 Montgomerie Misc. Poems iii. 54 Hir mirrines with missheif ay is mixt. 1628 Earle Microcosm., Childe (Arb.) 21 Hee arriues not at the mischiefe of being wise. 1679 Penn Addr. Prot. i. (1692) 55 Alas! we are not the same; that's our Mis-chief.

    b. With a and pl. A misfortune, calamity.

a 1350 St. Andrew 56 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 4 For pete þat he had in mynde Of þe grete mescheuys of mankynde. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 204 Þenk..how God haþ savyd þe fro deeþ and oþer miscevis. a 1400–50 Alexander 399 Lo, maister, slike a myschefe! 1481 Caxton Godfrey vi. 25 Alle the meseases & the myschiefs that the peple of our lord endured that tyme. 1633 Ford 'Tis Pity ii. v, But Heaven is angry, and be thou resolv'd Thou art a man remark'd to taste a mischief.

    † c. Phr. at mischief, at great (etc.) mischief [= OF. a meschief, a grant meschief]: in (great) misfortune, in evil plight; in distress; esp. in fight, at a disadvantage. Obs.

c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 9855 Netheles þey were at meschef, ffor to ascape þem were ful lef. 1375 Barbour Bruce xi. 604 The erll and his thus fechtand war At gret myscheiff. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas viii. i. (1558) 3 b, Thou died in preson at mischefe like a wretch. 1441–2 Chron. London (1827) 130 [He] hadde hym at myschief redy to a popped hym in the face with his dagger. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ix. xxxii. 389 Allas said syr Tristram vpon my heede there is somme good Knyghte at meschyef. 1558 G. Cavendish Poems (1825) II. 75 By cruel fortune at myschefe she ended. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 206 Of lait I saw thir lymmaris stand Lyke mad men at mischeif. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sep. 10 Or bene they chaffred? or at mischiefe dead? [gloss, an vnusuall speache, but much vsurped of Lidgate, and sometime of Chaucer].

    2. a. Harm or evil considered as the work of an agent or due to a particular cause.

1480 Robt. Devyll (1797) 31 Greate myscheyf haue I do, and muche yll As to robbe and slea. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lv. 3 They are mynded to do me some myschefe, so maliciously are they set agaynst me. 1545 Brinklow Lament. 26 b, Ye haue..done most myschefe in shuttynge vp of Godes worde from the people. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 237 If thou follow me, doe not beleeue But I shall doe thee mischiefe in the wood. 1613 ― Hen. VIII, ii. i. 22. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. vi. §102 They..who had contrived the mischieve. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. iii. (1840) 72 The devil is seldom out of call when he is wanted for any mischief. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxxvii, It was hardly possible two such damned rascals should colleague together without mischief to honest people. 1857 Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art ii. (1868) 136 It is quite wonderful how much mischief may be done even by small capacity.

    b. An injury wrought by a person or other agent; an evil arising out of or existing in certain conditions. Now only in collect. pl. with the sense ‘evil consequences’, and in phr. to do oneself a mischief.

c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2331 Philomela, This false thef Hath don this lady yit a more myschef. 1530 Tindale Pract. Prel. C vij, If any resisted them what so euer mischeuen they went about. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 338 Of two mischiefes the least is to be chosen. 1598 Yong Diana 47 A mischeefe neuer comes alone. 1611 Bible Ps. lii. 2 Thy tongue deuiseth mischiefes. 1693 Mem. Cnt. Teckely i. 50 The Turks..would not fail to work them 1000 mischiefs by means of the new Garrison of Newhaussel. 1726 Swift Gulliver ii. i, I..made three huzzas, to shew that I had got no mischief by my fall. 1774 Burke Sp. Amer. Tax. Wks. 1842 I. 165 Infinite mischiefs would be the consequence of such a power. a 1862 Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. ii. 47 General mischiefs depend upon general causes. 1871 Smiles Charac. ii. (1876) 58 The social mischiefs resulting from a neglect of the purifying influence of women.

    c. to make mischief: to create discord or dissension, esp. by talebearing. Cf. mischief-maker.

1884 Cassell's Fam. Mag. May 374 She was always making mischief between them [sc. two lovers].

    3. a. Law. A condition in which a person suffers a wrong or is under some disability, esp. one which it is the object of a statute to remove or for which equity affords a remedy. Phr. † to be at a mischief.

1596 Bacon Max. Com. Law iii. (1630) 26 Pleadings must be certain, because the aduerse party may know wherto to answer, or else he were at a mischief, which mischiefe is remedied by a demurrer. Ibid. ix. 48 Hee tooke his graunt subiect to that mischiefe at first. 1642 Coke On Litt. ii. 124 The mischiefe before this Act was, That in a Writ of Dower, Unde nihil habet, there were dayes of common retourn..which was mischievous to the woman, in respect of the long delay. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. ii. 19 Every scheme..hath been hitherto found to be..productive of more mischiefs than it would remedy. 1792 N. Chipman Rep. (1871) 80, C. having notice, was not within the mischief and therefore not within the equity of the remedy. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 524 If the adhering to such determinations is likely to be attended with inconvenience, it is a matter fit to be remedied by the legislature; which is able to prevent the mischief in future. 1828–32 Webster s.v., A new law is made to remedy the mischief.

    † b. Distinguished from inconvenience; see quots. and inconvenience 3 c.

[1509: see inconvenience n. 3.] 1532 Dial. on Laws Eng. ii. xlvi. 94 b, The law wyll rather suffre that myscheyf then the said inconuenience. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 618/1 True Justice punnisheth nothing but the evill act or wicked woord; yet by the lawes of all kingdomes it is a capitall crime to devise or purpose the death of the King... And therfore the lawe in that case punnisheth the thought; for better is a mischeif, then an inconvenience. 1622 [see inconvenience n. 3 c]. 1670 Ray Prov. 121 Better a mischief, then an inconvenience. That is, better a present mischief that is soon over, then a constant grief and disturbance. a 1709 [see inconvenience 3 c].

    4. † a. A disease or ailment. Obs. b. In medical parlance used simply to indicate a morbid condition without further definition.

1552 Huloet, Myschiefe beynge close or secrete, vlcus. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado i. iii. 13 To apply a morall medicine, to a mortifying mischiefe. 1601 Holland Pliny I. xvii. xxiv. 539 The running mange or tettar, is a mischeefe peculiar unto the Fig tree. 1755 Pott Chirurg. Observ. 135 A hernia where the abdominal tendon has no share in the mischief. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. ix. 98 Traces of inflammatory mischief. 1860 Winslow Obsc. Dis. Brain 12 The mischief established within the cranium, disorganizing the delicate tissue of the brain. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 130 When the mischief is confined to the lung.

    5. a. Hurtful character or influence; mischievousness. Now rare or Obs.

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. v. §2. 84 The conceit [that glass is poison] is surely grounded upon the visible mischiefe of glasse grossely or coursely powdered; for that indeed is mortally noxious. 1803 R. Hall Sentiments Pres. Crisis 45 The innocence of the intention abates nothing of the mischief of the precedent. 1822 Good Study Med. IV. 78 This is a disorder of far greater mischief and violence than the preceding.

    b. The phrase the mischief (of..) is (that) is used idiomatically to single out the most unfortunate aspect or vexatious circumstance of an affair.

1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 374 The mischief is, if we carry them out of their own air they die immediately. 1677 W. Hughes Man of Sin iii. i. 5 Their dear Francis..admired for a glorious Saint, was in his life time commonly taken for a silly Fool, by their own Confession. And the mischief is, for no small reason neither. 1708 Swift Let. conc. Sacr. Test Wks. 1751 IV. 170 But the mischief was, these Allies would never be brought to allow that the common Enemy was quite subdued. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 155 ¶7 The mischief of flattery is ..that it suppresses the influence of honest ambition. 1882 Ogilvie s.v., I have money enough, but the mischief is I have left my purse at home. 1896 A. E. Housman Shropsh. Lad lxii, And faith, 'tis pleasant till 'tis past: The mischief is that 'twill not last.

    † 6. Evil-doing, wickedness. Obs.

1470–85 Malory Arthur ix. xix. 367 By thy meschyef and thy vengeaunce thou hast destroyed the mooste noble Knyght. 1535 Coverdale Gen. vi. 5 Y⊇ earth was corrupte in ye sight of God and full of myschefe. 1593 Queen Elizabeth Boeth. i. pr. v. (1899) 15 Of mischefz or fraudes of thy slaunderers [orig. sceleribus fraudibusque delatorum]. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 161 With a plumpe he fercelie fallis in al kynde of mischeife [orig. in omnia flagitiorum & turpitudinum genera]. 1611 Bible Acts xiii. 10 O full of all subtilty and all mischiefe.

    7. A cause or source of harm or evil: often applied to a person whose conduct or influence is harmful; a worker of mischief; also, in milder sense, one who causes petty annoyance or acts in a vexatious or annoying manner.

1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 42 He was called..the Plague of the Common-Weal, the mischiefe of men. 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. v. v, O, my good Mischiefe! art thou come? 1643 Trapp Comm. Gen. xvi. 12 Mahomet, the mischiefe of mankinde. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 174 One of the jarrs of water broke, which was a great mischiefe to them, and a very important losse. 1671 Milton Samson 1039 The contrary she proves, a thorn Intestin, far within defensive arms A cleaving mischief. a 1704 T. Brown Sat. agst. Woman Wks. 1730 I. 55 The sex are all Pandoras, mischiefs all. 1708 S. Centlivre Busy Body iv. iv, B'ye, b'ye, dearee! Ah mischief! how you look now! B'ye, b'ye. 1780 Cowper Progr. Err. 302 The sacred implement I now employ Might prove a mischief, or at best a toy. 1816 Byron Ch. Har. iii. xlix, Many a tower for some fair mischief won. 1825–80 Jamieson, Mischief, a vexatious or ill-deedie person; as, ‘Ye're a perfect mischief’. 1890 Spectator 5 July Unionists such as Mr. Caine..are positive mischiefs to the party. 1891 J. Evelyn Baffled Vengeance 191 A curly-headed mischief known by the name of Jimmy.

    8. Vexatious or annoying action or conduct; chiefly, conduct causing petty injury or trouble to others by way of sport, without any ill-will. Also, a tendency to or disposition for such conduct.

1784 Cowper Tiroc. 207 Childish in mischief only and in noise. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk., Leg. Sleepy Hollow (1821) II. 303 He was always ready for either a fight or a frolic; had more mischief than ill-will in his composition. 1834 Marryat P. Simple II. viii. 118 The midshipmen are..full of fun and frolic. I'll bet a wager there'll be a bobbery in the pig-sty before long, for they are ripe for mischief.

    9. Phrases, chiefly expletive and imprecatory. † a. with a mischief: (a) used as an expletive, esp. parenthetically in questions, as What with a mischief..? (also What a mischief..?); (b) = with a vengeance. Obs.

1538 Elyot Dict. Add., Abi in malam rem, go hens with a mischefe. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v., Malus, Quid tua (malum) id refert? what, with a mischiefe, haste thou to doe with it? 1572 T. Smith in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. IV. 8 What a mischeefe meanethe hee to write unto mee of new Starres and Astronomers, and telleth me nothinge of my comeing home? 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Chemise, Hee raised them with a mischiefe, roused them with a vengeance. a 1625 Fletcher Nice Valour ii. i. (1647) 152 Hold still the chaire, with a grand mischiefe to you. 1630 J. Taylor (Water-P.) Wks. ii. 96/2 The matronly medicines..of this..woman, will in a little time make her encrease with a vengeance, and multiply with a mischiefe. 1640 Nabbes Bride iii. ii, Y'are welcome with a mischiefe to the occasion that brought you hither. 1722 Swift in J. Duncombe Lett. (1773) II. 5, I wonder how a mischief you came to miss us. 1822 Scott Nigel xxvii, Bide doun, with a mischief to ye.

    b. In imprecatory sentences, e.g. A mischief on..! A mischief take..!

1519 Interl. Four Elem. 535 A myschyfe on it! c 1550 Bale K. Johan (Camden) 95 It is Sedicyon, God gyve hym a very myschiefe. a 1553 Udall Royster D. iv. iii. (Arb.) 62 A mischiefe take his tokens. 1609 B. Jonson Sil. Wom. ii. iv. (1616) 545 Did I not tell you? mischiefe! 1668 Dryden Even. Love iv. Wks. 1701 I. 317 And a mischief of all foolish disguisements, for my part.

    c. Hence (like the plague, etc.) the mischief is used colloq. and dial. as a euphemistic substitute for ‘the devil’, chiefly in the phr. to play the mischief (with), and in questions What (how, etc.) the mischief..? (cf. a). Also to go to the mischief, like the mischief.

1583 Hollyband Campo di Fior 283 What the mischiefe is this that thou hast for thy sadelle? 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair i. i, What the mischief do you come with her; or she with you? a 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Wit without M. v. I 2 Ith name of mischiefe what did you meane? 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 125 This unlucky characteristic played the mischief with him in one of his love affairs. 1818 S. E. Ferrier Marriage xv, Boys may go to the mischief, and be good for something. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. xxxi. 375 Why the mischief should he not set about the work at once? 1867 ― Chron. Barset II. xii, That butcher in Silverbridge was playing the mischief with him. 1876 T. E. Brown Doctor 36 And them givin' sheet Like the mischief. 1892 Kipling Barrack-room Ballads 24 You 'eathen, where the mischief 'ave you been? 1895 Century Mag. June 279/2 And there's kindnesses and kindnesses, Mr. Ludovic. There's some that cost like the mischief. 1907 J. M. Synge Lett. to Molly (1971) 123, I am coughing away like the mischief today. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 354 She wished..they'd take the..twins and their baby home to the mischief out of that. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §20/5 Indefinite eminence in degree. (Preceded by..‘like’)... The (very) mischief.

    † d. words of mischief: abusive language, abuse. rare^—1. (Cf. mischieve v. 4.)

1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions i. vi. 86 They curse him, and reuyle him with all woordes of mischiefe.

    10. Comb. (chiefly objective), as mischief-doer, mischief-founder, mischief-master, mischief-monger, mischief-sufferer, mischief-taker; mischief-boding, mischief-doing, mischief-hatching, mischief-loving, mischief-tainted, mischief-working adjs.; mischief night, an evening, orig. 30 April, now 4 November, on which children indulge in mischievous pranks; also attrib.

1814 Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xxv. A *mischief-boding ray.

1822 Cobbett Weekly Reg. 4 May 304 Representing me as a *mischief-doer to the country.

1800 Coleridge Piccolom. iv. i, Thus compel Into my service that old *mischief-founder.

1835 J. P. Kennedy Horse-Shoe Robinson xxxiv. 295 Some *mischief-hatching fiend.

1810 Splendid Follies II. 51 The *mischief-loving imp.

1587 Golding Ovid's Met. xiii. 158 Would God this *mischeef mayster had in verrye deede beene mad.

1620 Shelton Quix. II. iv. 23 That Cheater, that arrant *Mischiefe-monger. 1888 England 18 Aug. 11/1 The Grand Old Mischief Monger at the head.

1865 W. S. Banks List Provincial Words Wakefield 47 *Mischief neet. Boys, thirty years ago, used to go about damaging property, believing the law allowed them, on this night. Happily the practice is over at Wakefield, and the time forgotten. 1871 N. & Q. 17 June 525/1 The eve of May Day was formerly known as ‘Mischief Night’ throughout South Lancashire, and prior to the epoch of the ‘new policeman’, many were the strange pranks, rude practical jokes, and mortifying degradations committed. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. xii. 255 In the nineteenth century April the thirtieth..was..the traditional Mischief Night... How Mischief Night has..come to be transferred to the other end of the year is one of the mysteries of the folklore calendar. Ibid. 279 ‘20 Boys in Mischief Night Raid at Ayton.’ 1969 ― Children's Games ii. 68 They even celebrated Mischief Night on 4 November as do their northern contemporaries. 1972 ‘J. Ripley’ My Word you should have seen Us 119 It was ‘Mischief Night’—the evening before ‘Bonfire Night’—and an annual happening peculiar to the northern provinces.

1552 Huloet, *Myschiefe sufferer, or taker, sceleratus.

1598 F. Rous Thule B, That rout of *mischief-tainted theeues.

1902 Fortn. Rev. Jan. 41 A child in the *mischief-working hands of his own childishness.

▪ II. mischief, v. arch.
    (ˈmɪstʃɪf)
    Forms: see prec. n.
    [f. mischief n. Cf. the earlier mischieve.]
    1. trans. To inflict injury upon; = mischieve v. 3.

1483 Cath. Angl. 241/1 To Mischefe, erumpnare. 1533 More Debell. Salem Wks. 971/1 He wil of lykelihode hate & mischief any man by whome he taketh any harme. 1605 R. Armin Foole upon F. (1880) 25 He, that mischiefes many, sometimes wrongs himselfe. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xx. (1623) 967 Britaine hauing so many Sea-townes and Outlets to mischiefe the English trafficke. 1682 Bunyan Holy War 195 Whomever I mischief, whomever I wrong, to me it is musick, when to others mourning. 1855 Singleton Virgil's Ecl. iii. I. 15 If you had not somehow mischiefed him, You would have died.

    2. To do physical harm to; = mischieve 3 b.

c 1470 Henry Wallace viii. 248 The flearis than with erll Patrik relefd To fecht agayn, quhar mony war myscheifd. 1483 in Surtees Misc. (1890) 29 The crosse in the merkyth place is lyke..to myschef sume man. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 62 The rack is commended for sauing of doong, so set as the old cannot mischiefe the yoong. 1607 Markham Caval. v. (1617) 57, I haue seene them run away, ouer-throwe..the Coach, and mischiefe the Coach-man. 1667 Decay Chr. Piety (1668) 74 'Tis a certain Indication of madness to tear and mischief those things that would be useful to us. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. vi. v. (1852) 393 Having set his dog to mischief his neighbor's cattel. 1858 Trench Parables xx. (1877) 356 The barren tree mischiefed the land, ‘troubled’ it, as Bishop Andrewes renders the word.

refl. a 1470 Gregory in Hist. Coll. Cit. Lond. (Camden) 213 There myght noo man come unto them ovyr the pavysse for the naylys that stode up-ryghte, but yf he wolde myschyffe hym sylfe. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health clxxi. 61 At length they do fal mad, or do mischefe them selfe. 1624–5 in Notes & Gleanings (Exeter 1889) II. 187 To..cut theire owne throats or otherwise murder or mischeife themselves. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 191 When the two Ladders were taken down, no Man living could come down to me without mischiefing himself.

absol. 1658 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. v. 100 A Bullet of Wax will mischief without melting. 1672 R. Wild Poet. Licent. 33 Their Breath will mischief far beyond a Gun.

    3. intr. To suffer injury; = mischieve 1.

a 1510 Douglas K. Hart ii. 71 Len me thy cloke, to gys me for ane quhyle; Want I that weid in fayth I will mischeif. 1598 F. Rous Thule B, Which done she weepes vpon her pitchie dore, That she should in ere she had mischief'd more.

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