▪ I. mist, n.1
(mɪst)
Forms: 1– mist; also 3 mijst, 3–6 myste, 4–7 myst, miste, (5 meyst).
[OE. mist str. masc. = MLG. (LG.), MDu. (Du.) mist, Icel. mistur (genit. misturs) neut. (Norw., Sw. mist):—OTeut. *mihstoz-, f. mī̆g-:—pre-Teut. *migh-, meigh-, as in Gr. ὀµίχλη, OSl. mĭgla, Skr. mih and mēgha cloud, mist. Perhaps further related to the root of OE. m{iacu}ᵹan, mig, and meox mix n.1]
1. a. A cloud formed by an aggregation of minute drops of water and resting on or near the ground. In generalized sense, vapour of water precipitated in very fine droplets, smaller and more densely aggregated than those of rain. Sometimes distinguished from fog, either as being less opaque or as consisting of drops large enough to have a perceptible downward motion (cf. quot. 1972).
| c 1000 ælfric Gen. xv. 17 Þa þa sunne eode to setle, þa sloh þær micel mist. c 1050 Suppl. ælfric's Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 175/23 Nebula, mist, uel ᵹenip. a 1200 Moral Ode 16 Ne michte ich seon bi-fore me for smike ne for miste. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 239/688 A wel deork mijst þare com al-so þat swiþe longue i-laste. Ibid. 317/603 Ȝwane þe sonne hath þudere i-drawe þene mist for hete. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1445 Now gadirs mystes and cloudes in þe ayre. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xl. (Ninian) 895 Bot myste ves in sic degre Þat nan mocht a stane caste se. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xi. xii. (1495) 397 Myste is frende to theues and to euyl doers for he hydyth theyr spyers and waytynges. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7105 Þan fell sodaynly slike a myst, Þat whidir to wende þai ne wist. 1530 Palsgr. 740/2 Whan the moysture of the dewe stryketh upwarde agayne, it maketh a myste. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. Wks. 1856 I. 26 The flagging'st bulrush that ere droopt With each slight mist of raine. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 629 As Ev'ning Mist Ris'n from a River o're the marish glides. 1798 Coleridge Anc. Mar. i. xix, In mist or cloud on mast or shroud It perch'd for vespers nine. 1831 Scott Cast. Dang. iii, The mist had settled upon the hills, and unrolled itself upon brook, glade, and tarn. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 40 The atmospheric moisture passes through the condition of visible cloud or mist. Ibid. 44 The position of a river is often marked by mist. 1972 Meteorol. Gloss. (Meteorol. Office) (ed. 5) 182 Mist, a state of atmospheric obscurity produced by suspended microscopic water droplets or wet hygroscopic particles. The term is used for synoptic purposes when..the associated visibility is equal to or exceeds 1 km; the corresponding relative humidity is greater than about 95 per cent. |
| fig. 1615 Hieron Wks. I. 438 Neither is euery myst of sorrow dissolued into teares. 1842 Tennyson Love & Duty 43 Rain out the heavy mist of tears. |
b. Used in proverbial
phr.| c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 7364 (Kölbing) Ich hope..We schul hem driue, so sonne doþ mist! c 1420 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1988 Derke as a myste, or a feynyd fable. 1535 Coverdale Isa. xliv. 21 As for thyne offences, I dryue them awaye like the cloudes, and thy synnes as the myst. |
c. Scotch († Scottish, † Scots) mist: a thick, very wetting mist characteristic of the Scottish hills; hence
jocularly, a steady soaking rain.
| 1589 [? Lyly] Pappe w. Hatchet Ded., Wks 1902 III. 394 We care not for a Scottish mist, though it wet vs to the skin. 1599 Broughton's Lett. viii. 27 It is no marueile you so affect the Scottish mist; for where the head doth σκοτοδινιᾶν, the tongue must needes σκοτολογεῖν. 1623 Minsheu, Moll{iacu}nas, soft showers, Scottish mists. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Scotch-mist, a sober, soaking Rain. 1770 Wesley Jrnl. 16 Apr. (1827) III. 384 We..got into a Scotch mist. 1872 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 38/1 With a light drizzle or Scotch mist falling thickly. |
d. transf. A cloud (of small particles) resembling a mist; a haze or haziness, as that produced by distance; hence
fig. of time, etc.
| 1785 Cowper Task i. 360 The rustling straw sends up a frequent mist Of atoms. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho i, The plains of Guienne and Languedoc were lost in the mist of distance. 1810 Shelley St. Irvyne's Tower v. 4 Why may not human minds unveil The dim mists of futurity? 1812 Byron Ch. Har. ii. ii, And o'er each mouldering tower, Dim with the mist of years, Grey flits the shade of power. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1875) III. xi. 5 Times..half shrouded in the mist of legend. |
e. A colour suggestive of a mist.
| 1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 21 July 16/4 (Advt.), A 4-ply worsted wool in shades of pink, mist, [etc.]. 1927 Daily Express 12 Mar. 3/5 Mist, a subdued mauve, suggesting the atmospheric effects of sunset. 1937 Discovery July 217/2 Our silk stockings are..described as..sun-tan, sandalwood, mist. 1963 New Yorker 29 June 57 Black, mist, rust, or olive. |
2. a. Dimness of eyesight; a hazy or filmy appearance before the eyes caused by disorders of the body or by the shedding of tears.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 26 Læcedomas wiþ eaᵹna miste. c 1220 Bestiary 102 in O.E. Misc. 4 Of hise eȝen wereð ðe mist. 1655 Culpepper, etc. Riverius xiv. iv. 385 They have the Head-ach, mists before their Eyes, and giddiness. 1693 South Serm. (1698) III. ii. 99 Where there is a Giddiness in the Head, there will always be a mist before the Eyes. 1859 Tennyson Enid 1617 She did not weep But o'er her meek eyes came a happy mist. 1880 ‘Ouida’ Moths I. 33 She felt a mist before her eyes, a tightness at her throat. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 66 Such patients usually complain of a mist before their eyes. |
b. Hence used in phrases with reference to the obscuring of the vision (physical or mental),
esp. to cast or throw a mist before (a person's) eyes; also simply,
† to cast a mist or mists: to produce mystification.
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Offundere caliginem oculis, to cast a miste before ones eyes. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 20 The Iuggler casteth a myst to worke the closer. 1607 Dekker Wh. of Babylon H 4 They say you can throw mists before our eyes, To make vs thinke you faire. 1641 [see pettifog n.2]. a 1674 Clarendon Surv. Leviath. (1676) 26 And by a mist of words..he dazles Mens eies. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 81 ¶5 Over this law, indeed, some sons of sophistry have been subtle enough to throw mists, which have darkened their own eyes. 1824 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Capt. Jackson, He was a juggler, who threw mists before your eyes. |
3. a. Applied to immaterial things conceived as enveloping a man's mind and obscuring his mental vision or outlook, or as veiling the real character or blurring the outlines of a thing.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. v. §3 fin., Þa mistas ðe þæt mod ᵹedrefað. a 1000 Boeth. Metr. xxiii, ᵹif he..of him selfum ðone sweartan mist, modes þiostro, mæᵹ aweorpan. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame i. 352 Euery thinge ys wyste, Though hit be keuered with the myste. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. x. (Percy Soc.) 36 The fatall problemes of olde antiquyte, Cloked wyth myst and wyth cloudes derke. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 67 b, All cloudes & mystes vtterly purged and expulsed out of our soules. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 416 All mystes and fogges of ignoraunce. 1728 Veneer Sincere Penitent Pref. 7 Those mists and false notions which our infirmities, education or conversation may have thrown in our way. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Cowley (first par.), All is shown confused and enlarged through the mist of panegyric. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 153 There is a kind of mist or dubiosity playing about it. 1842 Tennyson Will Waterproof 39 And softly, thro' a vinous mist, My college friendships glimmer. 1849 Robertson Serm. Ser. i. x. (1866) 170 It was faith straining through the mist. 1852 M. Arnold Empedocles ii. 67 The mists Of despondency and gloom. |
b. mists of death,
deathly mists.
| 1729 Savage Wanderer iii. 280 Sad o'er the sight swim shadowy mists of death. 1866 B. Taylor Poems, Autumnal Vespers, Death's mist shall strike along her veins. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 484 As soul is quenchless by the deathly mists. |
† 4. A state of obscurity or uncertainty; an ‘atmosphere’ of doubt.
Obs.| 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 401/2 They wil clerely dissipate & discusse the myst that he fain would walke in. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. ii. ii. 218 Ile say as they say, and perseuer so: And in this mist at all aduentures go. 1650 B. Discolliminium 54 The Grand Cause of this Realme..is yet in the myst to many..judicious men. 1678 Hatton Corr. (Camden) 161 My Lord wee are in a mighty mist wht our buisnesse is heere. a 1715 Burnet Own Time iii. (1724) I. 510 In this mist matters must be left till the great revelation of all secrets. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
mist-belt,
mist-cloud,
mist-drop,
mist-light,
mist-magic,
mist-mote,
mist-pavilion,
mist-plash,
mist-sheet,
mist-thread,
mist-veil,
mist-wreath;
mist-blotted,
mist-blurred,
mist-circled,
mist-clad,
mist-cold,
mist-coloured,
mist-covered,
mist-dimmed,
mist-enshrouded,
mist-exhaling,
mist-green,
mist-hung,
mist-impelling,
mist-laden,
mist-pale,
mist-shrouded,
mist-tracked,
mist-veiled,
mist-wet,
mist-wild,
mist-wreathed,
mist-wreathen,
mist-wrought adjs.;
mist-blower, a device for spraying insecticide into the tops of trees; so
mist-blowing vbl. n.;
mist-bow, a white arch, resembling a rainbow, sometimes seen in misty weather;
mist-flower, a plant of the tropical American genus
Conoclinium;
† mist-hackle, a ‘cloak’ or covering of mist;
mist-net, a net made of very fine threads, used to trap birds etc. for ringing or examination and subsequent release; also as
v. intr., to trap in a mist-net; hence
mist-netter, one who uses a mist-net;
mist-pond = dew-pond;
mist propagation, a method of rooting plant cuttings in which high humidity is maintained in a greenhouse by an automatic system of watering with fine spray at regular intervals;
mist propagator, an installation for this type of cultivation;
mist-tree, a name for
Rhus Cotinus, the smoke-tree (
Cent. Dict.).
| 1906 Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 1905 594 Passing either east or west of this ‘*mist-belt’ the rainfall rapidly diminishes. |
| 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 681 A great *mist-blotted light Flared on him. |
| 1946 Potts & Friend in Bull. Connecticut Agric. Exper. Station No. 501. 48 The development of a *mist blower which will apply thoroughly a small quantity of a concentrated insecticide. 1969 Nature 9 Aug. 558/2 Only the mistblower, which is mounted on a tractor, seems feasible for large-scale applications. |
| 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 12 Jan. 97/2 *Mistblowing of fruit trees is a practical proposition. |
| 1880 Academy 11 Dec. 415 The whole view is *mist-blurred and indistinct. |
| 1897 Daily News 11 Dec. 8/3 Clouds on which brilliant *mist-bows were thrown by the morning sunlight. |
| 1935 W. Empson Poems 27 Starlit, *mistcircled, one whole pearl embrowned. |
| 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 363 These *mist-clad hills are islands emerging above the Horizon. |
| 1884 Jefferies Life of Fields 133 The inclined plane of *mist-clouds again reflects a grey light. |
| 1889 W. B. Yeats Wanderings of Oisin iii. 34 Came now the sliding of tears and sweeping of *mist-cold hair. |
| 1890 Cent. Dict., *Mist-colored. 1929 W. Faulkner Sartoris 224 That 'ere mist-colored stallion. |
| 1809 Shelley Dial. 20 Tell me..What awaits on Futurity's *mist-covered shore. a 1847 Eliza Cook Winter is here iii, The mist-covered pane. |
| 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad 398 Along their *mist-dimmed heights [i.e., of the Alps]. |
| 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 375 Countless multitudes of *mist-drops. |
| 1848 Dickens Dombey xxxiii, Towards the *mist-enshrouded city. |
| 1782 J. Scott Amœbean Ecl. ii. Poet. Wks. 114 Dull are slow Ousa's *mist-exhaling plains. |
| 1860 A. Gray Man. Bot. 188 Conoclinium, *Mist-flower. |
| 1961 A. Sillitoe Key to Door iv. xxvi. 389 Green fields rolling up to..Catstone Wood, a *mist-green spearblade of sky above. |
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2081 Vch hille hade a hatte, a *myst-hakel huge. |
| 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. (Roxb.) 210 A *mist-hung Star-exhaled Meteor. |
| 1777 Mason Eng. Garden ii. 396 The sable ensign of the night Unfurl'd by *mist-impelling Eurus. |
| 1899 F. T. Bullen Way Navy 85 The secret of Ireland's greenness is the *mist-laden Gulf Stream. |
| 1930 Blunden Poems 40 The wolfish shadows in the eerie places Sprawl in the *mist-light. |
| 1921 R. Graves Pier-Glass 12 Cold fog-drawn Lily, pale *mist-magic Rose. |
| 1923 H. Crane Let. 15 Apr. (1965) 132 The eerie speed of the shutter..catching even the transition of the *mist-mote into the cloud. |
| 1956 Brit. Birds L. 450 *Mist nets, a traditional Japanese method of catching birds, were introduced to British ringers at a meeting of the Bird Observatories Committee in January, and by the early autumn of 1956 it is probable that over a hundred nets were in use. 1961 New Scientist 23 Mar. 728/1 The watchers gather with note-books, binoculars, mist nets, Heligoland traps and boxes of rings. 1971 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 18 June 7/1 Birds are..snared in a ‘mist net’ (a long net erected on poles, which is of so fine a mesh that the birds cannot see it, and so fly into it, where they are entangled). 1972 Science 1 Sept. 806/3 Bats are mist⁓netted near cattle. 1973 Country Life 1 Feb. 263/3 Helpers..ring large numbers of passerines, which they trap in mist-nets. |
| 1960 Brit. Birds LIII. 526 The capture of rare and difficult forms..is now within the province of every *mist-netter. |
| 1849 C. Brontë Shirley III. vi. 142 He would rather have appointed tryste with a phantom abbess, or *mist-pale nun. 1925 C. Day Lewis Beechen Vigil 26 Now from blue mist-pavilion You may see King Silence go Royally through the forest. |
| 1916 Blunden Harbingers 33 So heavily drives the rain, and lashes The open pool into white *mist-plashes. |
| 1893 Dartnell & Goddard Gloss. Words Wiltshire 104 *Mist-pond, a pond on the downs, not fed by any spring, but kept up by mist, dew, and rain... More commonly called dew-ponds. 1931 N. & Q. 22 Aug. 141/2 High up on the hills, in various parts of the country, are to be found ponds. Some call them dew ponds, but a more correct title is mist pond. |
| [1941 Amer. Nurseryman 1 May 5 (title) Propagation under mist.] 1953 Ibid. 1 Aug. 63/2 Results of some of the work we have done at Koster Nursery appear to indicate the equal value of constant *mist propagation in the open. 1961 Amat. Gardening Suppl. 28 Oct. 34/2 A technique known as mist propagation... The main feature of this technique is the automatic provision of a fine mist spray. 1969 New Scientist 10 Apr. 70 (caption) After five weeks' mist propagation, two-leaf cuttings of Iceberg [sc. a rose] are well-rooted young plants. 1972 Country Life 1 June 1419/3 Mist Propagation equipment. Maximises health and growth of plants. |
| 1971 ‘J. Fraser’ Death in Pheasant's Eye xxxi. 187 He'd have sufficient cash to buy a proper heating and ventilating system... Aye, and perhaps a *mist propagator! |
| 1917 D. H. Lawrence Look! We have come Through! 47 A thick *mist-sheet lies over the broken wheat. |
| 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 246 The *mist-shrouded pinnacle of..success. 1919 V. Woolf Night & Day v. 62 Lonely mist-shrouded voyagings. 1957 Manvell & Huntley Technique Film Music iii. 164 Calm scenes of mist-shrouded lakes and shots of dew-spangled vegetation. |
| 1888 W. B. Yeats Phantom Ship in Wanderings of Oisin (1889) 87 Hang the *mist-threads for a little while Like cobwebs in the air. |
| 1867 M. Arnold Heine's Grave in New Poems 204 And *mist-track'd stream of the wide. 1928 Blunden Retreat 14 Or mist-veil brushed thee, fine as yet was wove For moonmaid's clothing. |
| 1908 Daily Chron. 14 Nov. 4/4 Down the damp roadway move long lines of *mist-veiled traffic. |
| 1776 Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad vii. 298 Distant navies rear the *mist-wet sail. |
| 1936 L. B. Lyon Bright Feather Fading 48 *Mist-wild you melt now, gossamer fawn. |
| 1811 Scott Don Roderick ii. lxiii, All the phantasms of my brain, Melted away like *mist-wreaths in the sun. |
| 1849 M. Arnold Resignation in Strayed Reveller 123 Make, whistling, towards his *mist-wreath'd flock. |
| 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 633 The *mist-wreathen isle. |
| 1909 E. Pound Personae 43 Slender as *mist-wrought maids and hamadryads. |
▪ II. † mist, n.2 Obs. [? A use of prec. n. influenced by mystic, mystery: cf. misty a.2] Things spiritual or mystical.
in mist: mystically.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 462 Ryȝt so is vch a krysten sawle, A longande lym to þe mayster of myste. c 1430 Hymns Virgin (1867) 41 Þese prophetis speken so in myst, What þei mente we neuere knewe. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 435 So down they sat, And to thir viands fell, nor seemingly The Angel, nor in mist, the common gloss Of Theologians, but with keen dispatch Of real hunger. |
▪ III. † mist, n.3 Obs. App. shortened form of
mister n.1 = need.
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xi. 41 Þat þai schuld lede me fra citee to citee, if miste ware. ? 1469 Paston Lett. II. 334, I have grete myst of it. |
▪ IV. mist, v.1 (
mɪst)
[OE. mistian, f. mist mist n.1] 1. intr. To be or become misty; to gather or appear in the form of a mist; (of the eyes, outlines, etc.) to become dim, obscure, or blurred.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. xxxvi. (Z.) 216 Caligo me mistiað mine eaᵹan. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 340/2 Mystyn, or grow roky as wedur, and mysty. 1655 Vaughan Silex Scint. i. 70, I have deserved a thick, Egyptian damp, Dark as my deeds Should mist within me. 1818 Keats Endym. iii. 44 When thy gold breath is misting in the west. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 132 Full sweet it was to look, How clouds misted o'er the hill. 1829 Froude in Rem. (1838) I. 241 It began to rain and blow, and, what was worse, to mist. 1891 Columbus (Ohio) Disp. 23 Dec., Your eyes cannot but mist as you look and listen. |
2. trans. To cover or obscure with or as with mist; to envelop in mist; to bedim (the eyes) with tears.
| 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas ii. ii. (1554) 44 Flattery..Whiche..Misteth the iyen of euery gouernour That they cannot know their owne erroure. 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 21 He sits Misted with darknes like a smoaky roome. 1600 Holland Livy xxix. xxvii. 730 They were misted againe, and lost the sight of land. 1605 Shakes. Lear v. iii. 262 If that her breath will mist or staine the stone, Why then she liues. 1628 Gaule Pract. Theories (1629) 373 Perhaps, her lauish weeping..misted her eyes. 1631 Heywood 2nd Pt. Fair Maid of West iii. F 4 Let's mist our selves In a thick cloud of smoak. 1685 Sir G. Mackenzie Religious Stoic v. 43 That Glass is now so misted and soiled. 1820 Keats Lamia ii. 274 No soft bloom Misted the cheek. 1858 Mrs. Oliphant Laird of Norlaw III. 220 Stars do not mist themselves with tender dew about the perversities of human kind as these eyes do. |
b. with immaterial
obj.| 1598 Marston Sco. Villanie ii. v. 198 With Caduceus nimble Hermes fights, And mists my wit. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage i. ii. 14 We haue this testimonie of Moses of the Creation of the World, whose sense, if I haue missed or misted in these many words, I craue pardon. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. cxviii. 294 If I were not misted, and confounded, and astonished how to be thankful. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 495 This double Errour mists mens Judgments concerning them. |
▪ V. † mist, v.2 Obs. In 3
miste,
myste.
[? f. mist pa. pple. of miss v.1 Cf. Sw. mista, Da. miste.] intr. and trans. = miss v.
1| a 1250 Owl & Night. 764 Oft spet wel a lute lyste Þar muche strengþe solde myste. Ibid. 825 If þe uox miste of al þis dwele At þan ende ho creophþ to hole. Ibid. 1640 Nule ic wiþ þe playdi na more Vor her þu myst þi ryhte lore. |
▪ VI. mist obs. pa. tense and
pa. pple. of
miss v.
1; scribal variant of
ME. miᵹt (see
may v.
1).