hazinessn.
/ˈheɪzɪnᵻs/, U.S. /ˈheɪzinᵻs/ The quality or state of being hazy.
1. The quality or state of being covered or surrounded by a haze; mistiness, fogginess. Also: lack of transparency; cloudiness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cloud > mist > [noun] > haze > hazy condition
haziness1621
reek1876
1621 E. Winne Let. to G. Caluert 2 Hauing the happines of a cleere skie al about, & both Coast and Continent without any Rayne, Fogge or Hazines.
1672 J. Flamsteed Let. 15 July in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1973) IX. 159 Ye lightnesse of ye morneing & hazinesse of ye aire.
1709 G. Berkeley Ess. New Theory of Vision §71. 78 Tho' there be no extraordinary Fog or Haziness.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson i. x. 106 The haziness of the weather.
1803 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 9 315 The sun..being obscured by a general haziness in the atmosphere.
1838 S. Cooper Dict. Pract. Surg. (ed. 7) 354/2 A haziness of the capsule, caused by the extension of inflammation of the iris to it.
1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. (1856) xxix. 248 This is the first clear day... Compared with the gloomy haziness of its predecessors, it was cheering.
1894 H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Romance 34 A gaseous haziness, making the leafage of the gums look bluer than even they were.
1937 Bull. Mus. Fine Arts 35 30/2 The dappled yellow and green foliage fills the background with a soft, warm haziness.
1999 M. Pooley & J. Lomax Real Cidermaking xii. 89 Sometimes the haziness is due to suspended yeast, sometimes working its way into a colloidal state which may prove very difficult to clear.
2005 Sunday Tel. (Sydney) (Nexis) 18 Sept. (Escape section) 24 I looked out across the Paris of postcards, the flat sprawl of the city suffused with an early morning haziness.
2. figurative. Vagueness; uncertainty; absence of mental clarity; mental confusion or befuddlement, spec. from taking alcoholic drink or drugs.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > insecure knowledge, uncertainty > [noun] > unclear condition
obscurity1474
mist1532
cloud-lighta1536
indeterminateness1644
undistinction1647
indeterminacy1649
indistinction1651
undeterminateness1653
inestimability1678
undefinableness?1705
confusion1729
obnubilation1753
cloudiness1779
indistinctness1783
haze1790
haziness1796
vagueness1799
nebulosity1809
undefinednessa1832
undecidedness1897
indeterminism1928
fuzziness1973
smog1976
1796 G. Wakefield in A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad I. Pref. p. xlv If I rightly discern our author's meaning through the haziness of his expression.
1868 J. S. Vaughan Fiery Circle v. 95 What valuable lives lost by..the unsteadiness of the engine-drive, the haziness of the man at the wheel!
1872 H. P. Liddon Some Elements Relig. i. 25 In no department of human knowledge is haziness deemed a merit.
1882 D. Masson in Macmillan's Mag. 45 235 Carlyle himself seems to have become aware of the haziness of his dating of the transaction.
1921 Cosmopolitan Sept. 92/2 When one has narrowly escaped death by strangulation one may be pardoned some slight mental haziness.
1957 R. K. Narayan Printer of Malgudi x. 261 There was a momentary haziness in his mind as to what period he was existing in.
1975 L. Grinspoon & P. Hedblom Speed Culture (1976) ii. 47 The combination tablets also led to fewer reports of ‘haziness’, ‘jitteriness’, or unpleasant ‘autonomic effects’.
2005 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 10 Apr. 29 All this fuss has made me feel rather fond of the haziness of the Anglican Church, which may not deliver the same moral certainty but does a lovely cream tea.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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