amiss, adv., pred. a., and n.
(əˈmɪs)
Forms: 3 a mis, 4 a mysse, 4–5 a mys, (4 of mys, 5 of mysse, on mys), 3–6 amys, 5–6 amysse, 6–7 amisse, 7– amiss.
[prop. phrase, a prep.1 of manner + miss n. failure, deficiency, shortcoming.]
A. adv., gen. sign. Away from the mark, not up to the mark, out of course, out of order.
1. Erroneously, in a way that goes astray of, or misses its object.
| a 1250 Owl & Night. 1363 Ȝif me hit wile turne a mis. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 164 Þei red him alle a mysse, þat conseil gaf þerto. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. xi. 100 False proposiciouns that goon amys fro the trouthe. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxliv. 298 Our Archyers shet neuer arowe amys. 1535 Coverdale Job xxxiv. 32 Yf I haue gone amysse [Wyclif errid], enfourme me. 1627 May Lucan ii. 439 Phæton amisse did guide The day. 1755 Young Centaur iii. Wks. 1757 IV. 182 If he judges amiss in the supreme point. 1827 Keble Chr. Year Easter Day, Your wisdom guides amiss To seek on earth a Christian's bliss. |
2. Faultily, defectively; in a way that falls short of its object, or with which fault may be found.
| c 1386 Chaucer Manciple's T. 145 ‘By God,’ quod he, ‘I synge not amys.’ 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. ii. 174 Þe same mesure þat ȝe meteþ · amys oþer ellys. 1579 News fr. North in Thynne's Animadv. Pref. 133, I am sure I cannot be lodged amisse in this house. 1654 Gataker Disc. Apol. 49 The Doctor..had miscarried in his suit by joining issu amiss. 1846 Keble Lyra Innoc. (1873) 67 That widow poor Who only offered not amiss. |
3. Hence, euphem. Wrongly, in a wrong way.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 4103 Rayner, þou spekest al amys. c 1450 Merlin i. 5 Ye sey amysse, for god hateth no creature. 1550 Crowley Epigr. 682 For doubtlesse those goodes are gotten amisse. 1633 G. Herbert Self-Condemn. ii. in Temple 165 He that doth love, and love amisse This world's delights before true Christian joy. 1833 H. Martineau Briery Creek vi. 123 Apt to see wrong, and speak amiss, and do the very reverse of what he ought to do. |
4. to come or happen amiss: to come or happen out of order, untowardly, or contrary to one's wishes or expectations.
| 1646 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 252 Sometimes we shot at fowls and other birds: nothing came amiss. 1836 Johnsoniana i. 75 He chatted gaily..as if nothing had happened amiss. 1857 Buckle Civilis. vi. 282 Nothing came amiss to their greedy and credulous ears. |
5. to do, deal, or act amiss: to act erroneously, to err; euphem. to do wrong.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 54 My neuew, þat a lytel dude amys. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 269 A woman dothe amys To loue hym that vnknowe ys. c 1400 Deo Gracias (Turnb. 1843) 162 Amende that thou has done of mysse. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 279 When ony mon dude on mys. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cv. 6 We haue synned with oure fathers, we haue done amysse. 1612 Dekker If it be not good 313 Looke not to prosper, if thou dealst amisse. 1792 Anecd. Pitt I. iv. 60 We are convinced that something has been done amiss. 1870 Bryant Homer I. ii. 44 And soon will punish those Who act amiss. |
6. to take (a thing) amiss: orig. to miss its meaning, mistake (i.e. (a)miss-take); now, to misinterpret its motive or to interpret it in a bad sense, to take offence at.
| c 1380 Wyclif 3 Treat. i. 18 Þis dreem takun a mys turneþ upsedoun þe chirche. c 1538 Starkey England i. 9 You take the mater amys. 1638 Chillingworth Relig. Prot. i. i. §5. 33 So might we justly take it amisse, that.. you are not more willing to consider us. 1780 Johnson Lett. 238 II. 139 You..therefore cannot take it amiss that I have never written. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. iii. 26 You will not take it amiss if I take a cousin's privilege. |
b. So, to think amiss.
| 1635 Swan Spec. Mund. v. §2 (1643) 133 To think other⁓wise were to think amisse. 1702 Pope Jan. & May 809 None judge so wrong as those who think amiss. 1714 J. Fortescue-Aland Fortescue's Abs. & Lim. Mon. Ded. 3, I am persuaded, he would not think amiss of my conduct. 1770 Goldsm. Haunch of Venison 123 So, perhaps, in your habits of thinking amiss, You may make a mistake, and think slightly of this. |
B. quasi-adj. [In construction with vb. to be, amiss, which properly belongs to the vb., is referred to the subject, and treated as an adj.; and hence extended to more distinct adjectival constructions. Cf. matters went far amiss; matters were somewhat amiss; I found matters amiss; it would not be amiss to do so. Never used attrib.]
1. Out of order: not in accord with the recognized good order of morality, society, custom, nature, bodily health, etc. etc.; deficient, faulty.
| c 1315 Shoreham 144 Ȝef he..couthe and dede hyȝt nouȝt, Hyt were a-mys. 1473 J. Warkworth Chron. 12 He schulde..amende alle manere of thynges that was amysse. 1580 Sidney Arcadia ii. (1590) 223 Saying still the world was amisse. 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. iii. 102 Don. What is amisse? Macb. You are, and doe not know't. 1754 Richardson Grandison IV. ii. 19, I hear something very much amiss of this man. 1871 G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. iii. ii. 625 The taste is nearly always amiss in illness. |
2. esp. negatively, not amiss: not beside the mark, not improper, quite in keeping with the object in view.
| 1513 More Edw. V, Ded., I have thought it not amisse to put to my helping hand. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xlii. 314 It will not be amisse to lay open the Consequences. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. Wks. I. 180 However it may not be amiss to add to these remarks. 1778 Johnson Lett. 198 II. 41 It is good to speak dubiously about futurity. It is likewise not amiss to hope. 1855 Tennyson Maud i. xix. 82 Kind to Maud? That were not amiss. |
b. Of the quality of objects.
| 1860 Hawthorne Marble Faun (1879) II. xxiv. 243 She was not amiss..but her companion was far the handsomer figure. Ibid. (1860) I. xxiii. 253 As an angel, you are not amiss. |
† C. n. [The adv. or adj. used subst. quasi ‘a doing amiss’ or ‘a thing which is amiss’; perhaps partly due to formal confusion between a miss ‘an error,’ and a-miss ‘in error.’] An error, fault, or misdeed; hence euphem. an evil deed. Obs.
| 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. in Ashm. (1652) v. 65 Without amisse. 1590 Lodge Gold. Leg. in Halliwell Shaks. VI. 43 He [shall] receive meed for his amisse. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. v. 18 Each toy seemes Prologue, to some great amisse. 1643 Actors' Remonstr. (1869) 265 We will..reforme all our disorders, and amend all our amisses. c 1700 Rich. II in Evans Old Bal. (1784) No. 410. 300 The nobles of England their prince's amiss, By parliament soon did rebate. |