mistn.¹

Brit.

/mɪst/, U.S.

/mɪst/

Forms: Old English–1600s (2000s– irregular) myst, Old English– mist, Middle English mest, Middle English meyst, Middle English miist, Middle English mijst, Middle English myist, Middle English–1500s myste, Middle English–1600s miste.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.

Etymology: Cognate with Middle Dutch mest, mist (Dutch mist), Middle Low German mist, Middle High German mist, Icelandic mistr, mistur, Norwegian (regional or archaic) mist, Swedish mist, Danish mist < an extended form of the Indo-European base of Sanskrit mih mist, vapour, megha cloud, ancient Greek ὀμίχλη mist, cloud, Old Church Slavonic mĭgla mist, cloud, Russian mgla haze, Lithuanian migla mist, Albanian mjegull cloud, mist.Connection with mighe v., mig n.¹, and mix n.¹ is doubtful.

I. Senses relating to a cloud of vapour.

a. A natural phenomenon consisting of a diffuse cloud of fine water droplets suspended in the atmosphere on or near the ground so as to limit visibility (but to a lesser extent than fog); such droplets viewed collectively as a substance or medium. Also figurative and in figurative context.In meteorology mist is now distinguished from fog as being less opaque, with visibility of at least one kilometre, and from haze, which is due to solid particles not water droplets.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > liquid > moisture or humidity > [noun] > moist vapour

misteOE

reekeOE

humoura1382

steamc1440

the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cloud > mist > [noun]

misteOE

roke1292

vapourc1386

nyle1481

stove1513

fumec1550

rouka1586

misting1604

steam1612

dampa1616

petty-fog1641

smoke1648

brume1694

muga1728

ure1818

nebule1869

nebula1894

moist1903

M1904

clag1940

the world > matter > gas > [noun] > fumes or vapour > water in the form of > vapour or mist

misteOE

gum1513

mistiness1626

eOE Metres of Boethius (partly from transcript of damaged MS) v. 6 Gif him [sc. the stars] wan fore wolcen hangað, ne mægen hi swa leohtne leoman ansendan, ær se þicca mist þynra weorðe.

OE Seven Sleepers (Julius) (1994) 34 Ða þicnyssa smices and ða bræðas ðæs flæsces stigon upp on ælce healfe geond þa byrig eall swilc hit mist wære.

OE Antwerp Gloss. (1955) 217 Nebula, mist uel genip.

OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) xv. 17 Ða ða sunne eode to setle, ða sloh ðær mycel mist.

OE Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Corpus Cambr.) (1900) iv. xxxvii. 318 Of þære ea wære reccende se mist unaræfnedlicre fylnesse & unswetes stences.

c1300 St. Edward Elder (Laud) 214 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 53 (MED) A-non so huy openeden þat lid of is swete toumbe þere, Þare cam a-doun þoruȝ al þe churche ase þei it a mist were..þat huy i-seien alle with eiȝe.

c1300 St. Michael (Laud) 603 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 317 Ȝwane þe sonne hath þudere i-drawe þene mist for hete.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 139 Mist is frende to þeoves and to yuel doers, for he hidiþ here spyers & waytynges.

a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 1445 Now gadirs mystes and cloudes in þe ayre.

c1480 (a1400) St. Ninian 895 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 329 Bot myste ves in sic degre þat nan mocht a stane caste se.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 740/2 Whan the moysture of the dewe stryketh upwarde agayne, it maketh a myste.

1607 S. Hieron Remedie for Securitie in Wks. (1620) I. 438 Neither is euery myst of sorrow dissolued into teares.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xii. 629 As Ev'ning Mist Ris'n from a River o're the marish glides.

1713 G. Berkeley Three Dialogues Hylas & Philonous i. 25 Are then the beautiful Red and Purple we see on yonder Clouds, really in them? Or, do you imagine, they have in themselves any other Form, than that of a dark Mist, or Vapour?

1798 S. T. Coleridge Anc. Marinere i, in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 10 In mist or cloud on mast or shroud It perch'd for vespers nine.

1831 W. Scott Castle Dangerous iii, in Tales of my Landlord 4th Ser. III. 271 The mist had settled upon the hills, and unrolled itself upon brook, glade, and tarn.

1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 44 The position of a river is often marked by mist.

1955 Sci. Amer. May 67/1 The smallest stable droplets in fog are five microns in diameter; in mist they may be 25 microns.

1997 P. Carey Jack Maggs lxxiii. 273 When..the yellowish light of dawn penetrated the mist, he found they were bumping around the shore of a ‘pill’.

†b. In proverbial (esp. similative) phrases. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 7364 Ich hope..We schul hem driue, so sonne doþ mist!

c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods (1896) 1988 Derke as a myste or a feynyd fable.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Isa. xliv. D As for thyne offences, I dryue them awaye like the cloudes, and thy synnes as the myst.

c. Condensed vapour settling as fine droplets on a surface.

ΚΠ

1870 J. F. Clarke Steps to Belief 11 A film of mist comes over the object-glass.

1889 ‘M. Twain’ Connecticut Yankee xxi. 265 Not a whiff of moisture hath he [sc. Merlin] started yet, even so much as might qualify as mist upon a copper mirror.

1932 G. Greene Stamboul Train i. i. 9 The mist from his breath obscured the pane.

1977 J. Johnston Shadows on our Skin 84 He..rubbed the smeary mist off the inside of the window with the sleeve of his anorak.

1983 M. Magorian Goodnight, Mister Tom (BNC) 57 Willie peered in the window and wiped away the mist his breath was making on the glass.

d. A localized cloud of fine water droplets produced artificially (e.g. by means of a spray), esp. for horticultural purposes.

ΚΠ

1941 Amer. Nurseryman 1 May 5 (title) Propagation under mist.

1970 Materials & Technol. III. ix. 704 Exposure to a continuous mist of salt water, the so-called salt-spray test,..does not truly simulate atmospheric exposure.

1976 S. M. Gault Dict. Shrubs in Colour 122/1 Theses shrubs may be propagated from summer cuttings under mist.

1990 W. A. Livesey GCSE Motor Vehicle Stud. iv. 51/1 The spray from the injector is in the form of a fine mist, often referred to as atomised.

a. A cloud (of smoke, vapour, small atmospheric particles, etc.) resembling a mist; a haze.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cloud > mist > [noun] > haze

haze1582

oama1728

mist1785

maze1813

dry urea1824

gauze1842

blight1848

slur1880

c1175 ( Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 167 Þa com þær færinge swiðe beorht ȝenip, and heom ealle ofersceadewæde; and an stæfne wæs iworden on þam miste.

a1225 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Lamb.) 16 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 161 Ne michte ich seon bifore me for smike ne for miste.

c1390 (?a1350) Trental St. Gregory (Vernon(1)) l. 55 in C. Horstmann Minor Poems Vernon MS (1892) i. 262 (MED) And in þat derknesse a myst among, Al stoneyd he was, such stunch þer stong.

a1425 Medulla Gram. (Stonyhurst) f. 68 Vapor, smokynge or myst.

c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods (1896) 310 And next to her was god Pluto set, With a derke Myst enuyrond all aboute... Of fyre and sulphure all hys odour wase.

1568 D. Lindsay Suplication Syde Taillis in Wks. (1931) I. 120 I wald thay borrowstounis barnis had breikkis, To keip sic mist fra Malkinnis cheikkis.

1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. iii. 154 The Magnetical Exspirations of the Loadstone may..be seen in the form of a mist.

1785 W. Cowper Task i. 360 The rustling straw sends up a frequent mist Of atoms.

1794 A. Radcliffe Myst. of Udolpho I. i. 2 The plains of Guienne and Languedoc were lost in the mist of distance.

1900 E. Wharton Gift from Grave vi. 74 A mist of cigarette smoke.

1987 My Weekly 21 Feb. 31/2 The sweet flour would..spread its fine mist over the floor.

b. figurative. A dimness or haziness produced by time. Frequently in plural, esp. in mists of time.Cf. also sense 5.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > duration > [noun] > remote time or distance

mist1701

deep time1832

azure1834

the world > time > relative time > the past > [noun] > mist or haze of distant time

mist1701

1701 M. Chudleigh Ladies Defence 22 And who see clearly thro' the Mists of Time, Those puzling Glooms where busy Mortals stray.

1810 P. B. Shelley St. Irvyne's Tower v. 4 Why may not human minds unveil The dim mists of futurity?

1812 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Cantos I & II ii. ii. 62 And o'er each mouldering tower, Dim with the mist of years, grey flits the shade of power.

1869 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest III. xi. 5 Times..half shrouded in the mist of legend.

1912 S. C. Roy Mundas & their Country i. 16 The site of the original home of the Mundas will perhaps ever remain hidden from view in the mist of ages.

1996 Business Age June 95/1 Way back in the mists of time, when the Stock Exchange still had a trading floor.

3. A grey colour suggestive of mist.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [noun] > light grey

elephant's breath1884

mist1926

1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 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.

II. Senses relating to haziness of vision.

a. Dimness of eyesight; a haze or film before the eyes caused by a sight disorder, the shedding of tears, etc. Also spec. in early use (frequently with the): such blurred vision as a medical condition.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > disordered vision > [noun] > dimness or poor vision

dimnessc825

misteOE

mistinessa1382

scotomiaa1400

scotomya1400

obfuscation?a1425

scotoma1543

purblindness1552

sand-blindness1552

caligation1615

caliginousness1620

weak-sightedness1632

cecutiency1646

caliginosity1657

dimsightedness1662

dim1726

caligo1801

asthenopia1875

greying out?1942

eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) i. ii. 26 Læcedomas wiþ eagna miste.

OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1900) II. 256 Þa wurdon his eagan yfele gehefegode, mid toswollenum breawum, and swiðlicum myste swa þæt his seon swyðe þeostrodon.

lOE Recipe (Faust. A.x) in T. O. Cockayne Leechdoms, Wortcunning, & Starcraft (1866) III. 292 Ðeos eahsealf mæg wiþ ælces cynnes broc on eagon, wiþ flean on eagon, & wiþ gewif, & wiþ mist.

a1300 (c1275) Physiologus (1991) 76 Of hise eȝen wereð ðe mist.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 297^v Þe myste..is cause of dymnesse in þe eyȝe.

c1450 in W. R. Dawson Leechbk. (1934) 178 (MED) A lectuary for many yueles..for sores in the side, for the myst, and for the stomake.

a1500 in Trans. Hist. Soc. Lancs. & Cheshire (1877) 29 2 (MED) For rotinge of lyuer and binge, brest & myste.

1655 N. Culpeper et al. tr. L. Rivière Pract. Physick xiv. iv. 385 They have the Head-ach, mists before their Eyes, and giddiness.

1698 R. South 12 Serm. III. 99 Where there is a Giddiness in the Head, there will always be a mist before the Eyes.

1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 86 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 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 66 Such patients usually complain of a mist before their eyes.

1915 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Island xiv. 145 Anne, looking down through a mist of tears, at her old playfellow, thought she saw the face God had meant Ruby to have.

1982 R. Anderson Poacher's Son (1984) x. 87 Through the mist of fever, I saw Mrs Craske come to the loft and cool our heads with a wet cloth.

b. In phrases with reference to the obscuring of (physical or mental) vision; esp. in to cast (also throw) a mist before a person's eyes (now rare): to produce mystification or confusion, to deceive; formerly also simply †to cast a mist (also mists) (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > act of perplexing > perplex, nonplus [phrase]

to bring (drive, or put) to one's wit's end1377

to cast (also throw) a mist before a person's eyes?a1475

to set (also run) on ground1600

to make butter and cheese of1642

to put to the gaze1646

philogrobolized in one's brains1653

to strike all of (on) a heap1711

to blow, cast, throw stour in one's eyes1823

knot1860

to give (one) furiously to think1910

?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 159 A derke devyll with falsnese I saye shall cast a myst in þe kynggys eye.

1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus Offundere caliginem oculis, to cast a miste before ones eyes.

1579 S. Gosson Schoole of Abuse f. 2 The Iugler casteth a myst to work the closer.

1607 T. Dekker Whore of Babylon sig. H4 They say you can throw mists before our eyes, To make vs thinke you faire.

1641 J. Milton Of Prelatical Episc. 19 And thus much for this cloud I cannot say rather then petty-fog of witnesses, with which Episcopall men would cast a mist before us.

a1674 Earl of Clarendon Brief View Leviathan (1676) 26 And by a mist of words..he dazles Mens eies.

1750 S. 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.

1828 C. Lamb Capt. Jackson in Elia 2nd Ser. 194 He was a juggler, who threw mists before your eyes.

1920 F. S. Fitzgerald This Side of Paradise (Interlude) 173 May the King of the elements cast a mist over the eyes of the King of Foreign.

a. Any of various immaterial things conceived as obscuring a person's mental vision or outlook, or as veiling the real character or blurring the outlines of a thing.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [noun] > source of obscurity

misteOE

obscurer1869

eOE Metres of Boethius xxiii. 188 Gif he..of him selfum ðone sweartan mist, modes þiostro, mæg aweorpan.

eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) v. 14 Þa mistas ðe þæt mod gedrefað.

OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1900) II. 164 Eall middaneard is mid miste befangen deopre nytennysse buton us drihten crist oþþe his leoht forgife, oþþe us læde onweg.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. 1866 (MED) Thus stant this world fulfild of Mist, That noman seth the rihte weie.

c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame 352 Every thing ys wyst, Though hit be kevered with the myst.

1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1845) x. 36 The fatall problemes of olde antiquyte, Cloked wyth myst and wyth cloudes derke.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Siiii^v Al cloudes & mystes vtterly purged and expulsed out of our soules.

a1571 W. Haddon in A. Fleming Panoplie Epist. (1576) 416 All mystes and fogges of ignoraunce.

1667 T. Sprat Hist. Royal-Soc. ii. 112 Who can behold, without indignation, how many mists and uncertainties, these specious Tropes and Figures have brought on our Knowledg?

a1686 J. Gordon Hist. Scots Affairs (1841) I. 87 The ministers who pressed the Covenant, strive to walke in a miste, and keepe their intentions misticall.

1728 J. Veneer tr. Compan. Sincere Penitent Pref. 7 Those mists and false notions which our infirmities, education or conversation may have thrown in our way.

1779 S. Johnson Cowley in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets I. 2 All is shown confused and enlarged through the mist of panegyrick.

1810 Sporting Mag. 36 153 There is a kind of mist or dubiosity playing about it.

1842 Ld. Tennyson Will Waterproof's Monologue in Poems (new ed.) II. 184 And softly, thro' a vinous mist, My college friendships glimmer.

1852 M. Arnold Empedocles on Etna, & Other Poems ii. 67 The mists Of despondency and gloom.

1901 R. Kipling Kim iii. 60 He was led to speak harshly by the Red Mist of anger.

1959 J. Barzun House of Intellect v. 116 They rely on powers of divination to glimpse historical or literary or scientific truth through the mists of adolescent incoherence.

†b. Chiefly poetic. With reference to death. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1729 R. Savage Wanderer iii. 280 Sad o'er the sight swim shadowy mists of death.

1866 B. Taylor Autumnal Vespers in Poems Death's mist shall strike along her veins.

1878 R. Browning La Saisiaz 484 As soul is quenchless by the deathly mists.

6. A state of obscurity, uncertainty, or bewilderment; an atmosphere of doubt.

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

1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. (1557) 401/2 They wil clerely dissipate & discusse the myst that he fain would walke in.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) ii. ii. 219 Ile say as they say, and perseuer so: And in this mist at all aduentures go.

1650 N. Ward Discolliminium 54 The Grand Cause of this Realme..is yet in the myst to many..judicious men.

1678 E. M. Thompson Corr. Family of Hatton (1878) I. 161 My Lord wee are in a mighty mist w^ht our buisnesse is heere.

a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 510 In this mist matters must be left till the great revelation of all secrets.

1843 E. B. Barrett Let. 23 Dec. (1990) VIII. 104 I feel myself in a mist—& in a sort of fear of confounding the maiden didacticism of Mrs Ellis.

a1854 R. M. Bird News of Night v. i, in America's Lost Plays (1941) XII. 181 No 'twas better—this is, worse—Oh, the lord! No 'twasn't worse neither! AG. Why, you goose, you are in a mist.

1910 E. M. Forster Howards End xxvii. 236 We are all in a mist—I know, but I can help you this far.

Compounds

C1.

a. General attributive.

mist-cloud n.

ΚΠ

1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt II. 265 The white clinging mist-cloud.

1884 R. Jefferies Life of Fields 133 The inclined plane of mist-clouds again reflects a grey light.

mist-drop n.

ΚΠ

1860 E. B. Pusey Minor Prophets 375 Countless multitudes of mist-drops.

1889 W. B. Yeats Wanderings of Oisin I. 2 The mist-drops hung on the fragrant trees.

1988 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 26 May 30 Night has come to Vietnam. Indoors, the mist-drops waft through open screens.

mist-light n.

ΚΠ

1914 S. Lewis Our Mr. Wrenn iv. 58 Unearthily glancing with mist-lights.

1983 S. Cooper Seaward vii. 56 The mist-light flowed out around them.

mist-magic n.

ΚΠ

1921 R. Graves Pier-glass 12 Cold fog-drawn Lily, pale mist-magic Rose.

mist-mote n.

ΚΠ

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.

mist-pavilion n.

ΚΠ

1925 C. Day Lewis Beechen Vigil 26 Now from blue mist-pavilion You may see King Silence go Royally through the forest.

mist-plash n.

ΚΠ

1916 E. Blunden Harbingers 33 So heavily drives the rain, and lashes The open pool into white mist-plashes.

mist-sheet n.

ΚΠ

1917 D. H. Lawrence Look! We have come Through! 47 A thick mist-sheet lies over the broken wheat.

mist-thread n.

ΚΠ

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.

mist veil n.

ΚΠ

1928 E. Blunden Retreat 14 Or mist-veil brushed thee, fine as yet was wove For moonmaid's clothing.

1998 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 3 May 14 The sun's warmth draws back the mist veil.

mist-wreath n.

ΚΠ

1811 W. Scott Don Roderick lxiii. 55 All the phantasms of my brain, Melted away like mist-wreaths in the sun.

1862 G. Meredith Poems (1978) I. 106 The Muscovite stole thro' the mist-wreaths.

b. Objective.

mist-sprayer n.

ΚΠ

1975 Wall St. Jrnl. 26 June 38/2 Its Calmar division plans to build a..plant..which initially will produce safety closures and fine-mist sprayers.]

1984 N.Y. Times 12 Aug. v. 3/1 The Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee has provided 13 ‘spray stations’, where runners can pick up a wet sponge or can run under a mist-sprayer.

2000 Arizona Republic (Nexis) 11 Oct. g9 Water the seeds daily with a fine mist sprayer.

c. Instrumental and parasynthetic.

mist-blotted adj.

ΚΠ

1864 Ld. Tennyson Enoch Arden in Enoch Arden, etc. 37 A great mist-blotted light Flared on him.

mist-blurred adj.

ΚΠ

1880 Academy 11 Dec. 415 The whole view is mist-blurred and indistinct.

mist-circled adj.

ΚΠ

1935 W. Empson Poems 27 Starlit, mistcircled, one whole pearl embrowned.

mist-clad adj.

ΚΠ

1795 C. Lloyd Elegy on Poor Man's Grave in Poems on Various Subjects 32 Her mist-clad power shall waft the gentle gale To fan the flowers that deck thy earthy bed.

a1983 B. Coffey Poems & Versions (1991) 169 There did seem clear in sight A path into the mist-clad sea.

mist-coloured adj.

ΚΠ

1890 Cent. Dict. Mist-colored.

1929 W. Faulkner Sartoris 224 That 'ere mist-colored stallion.

mist-covered adj.

ΚΠ

a1822 P. B. Shelley Death in T. J. Hogg Life Shelley (1858) I. 197 Tell me..What awaits on Futurity's mist-covered shore?

1895 W. B. Yeats Poems 27 And now fled by, mist-covered, without sound, The youth and lady and the deer and hound.

mist-dimmed adj.

ΚΠ

1880 ‘M. Twain’ Tramp Abroad xxxv. 398 Along their mist-dimmed heights [i.e. of the Alps].

mist-enshrouded adj.

ΚΠ

1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xxxiii. 343 Towards the mist-enshrouded city.

2000 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 4 Mar. v. 31/1 Behind us rose gray, mist-enshrouded mountains.

† mist-exhaling adj. Obsolete rare

ΚΠ

1782 J. Scott Amœbean Eclogues ii, in Poet. Wks. 114 Dull are slow Ousa's mist-exhaling plains.

mist-hung adj.

ΚΠ

1601 J. Weever Mirror of Martyrs sig. C8 A mist-hung Star-exhaled Meteor.

1925 V. Lindsay Chinese Nightingale in Coll. Poems i. 31 Dare you forget that turquoise dawn When we stood in our mist-hung velvet lawn.

† mist-impelling adj. Obsolete rare

ΚΠ

1777 W. Mason Eng. Garden (ed. 2) ii. 396 The sable ensign of the night Unfurl'd by mist-impelling Eurus.

mist-laden adj.

ΚΠ

1899 F. T. Bullen Way Navy 85 The secret of Ireland's greenness is the mist-laden Gulf Stream.

mist-shrouded adj.

ΚΠ

1876 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer xix, in Austral. Town & Country Jrnl. (Sydney) 30 Dec. 1062/3 The mist-shrouded pinnacle of the moments known as success.

1976 Eastern Evening News (Norwich) 22 Dec. 9/2 They all end up on Kong's mist-shrouded island in the Pacific.

mist-tracked adj.

ΚΠ

1867 M. Arnold Heine's Grave in New Poems 204 And mist-track'd stream of the wide..German land.

mist-veiled adj.

ΚΠ

1908 Daily Chron. 14 Nov. 4/4 Down the damp roadway move long lines of mist-veiled traffic.

1932 T. E. Lawrence tr. Homer Odyssey iii The smooth wall of cliff which sheerly fronts the mist-veiled sea.

mist-wreathed adj.

ΚΠ

1849 M. Arnold Strayed Reveller, & Other Poems 123 Make, whistling, towards his mist-wreath'd flock.

1932 R. Macaulay They were Defeated i. xiii. 104 Dean Wood..would be lying mist-wreathed and vast beneath the moors.

mist-wreathen adj.

ΚΠ

1864 Ld. Tennyson Enoch Arden in Enoch Arden, etc. 35 The mist-wreathen isle.

mist-wrought adj.

ΚΠ

1896 P. L. Dunbar Lyrics Lowly Life 15 Up comes the gale, And the mist-wrought veil Gives way to the lightning's glare.

1909 E. Pound Personae 43 Slender as mist-wrought maids and hamadryads.

d. Similative.

mist-cold adj.

ΚΠ

1889 W. B. Yeats Wanderings of Oisin iii. 34 Came now the sliding of tears and sweeping of mist-cold hair.

mist-green adj.

ΚΠ

1961 A. Sillitoe Key to Door iv. xxvi. 389 Green fields rolling up to..Catstone Wood, a mist-green spearblade of sky above.

mist-pale adj.

ΚΠ

1849 C. Brontë Shirley III. vi. 142 He would rather have appointed tryste with a phantom abbess, or mist-pale nun.

mist-wet adj.

ΚΠ

1776 W. J. Mickle tr. L. de Camoens Lusiad vii. 298 Distant navies rear the mist-wet sail.

1996 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch (Nexis) 13 Oct. 81 As if anyone in stocking feet would head down mist-wet hillsides..at midnight.

mist-wild adj.

ΚΠ

1936 L. B. Lyon Bright Feather Fading 48 Mist-wild you melt now, gossamer fawn.

C2.

mist-belt n. a region in which mist and high humidity are so common that they have a notable effect on vegetation and agriculture; esp. any of several areas in the eastern foothills of the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa, lying mainly between 1100 and 1500 metres above sea level; (also) any of several mountainous regions extending from south-eastern Egypt to the Horn of Africa; these areas collectively.

ΚΠ

1902 Proc. Royal Colonial Inst. 33 87 What is called the ‘mist belt’ throughout Natal gets forty-five to fifty inches [of rain].

1951 Archeol. & Nat. Resources Natal (Univ. Natal) 56 The agricultural significance of these local scarps has given rise to a specific term, namely the ‘mist belt’, in which are to be found most of the wattle plantations, mixed-dairy farms and horticultural nurseries of Natal.

1988 S. Afr. 1987–8: Official Yearbk. (S. Afr. Bureau for Information) 9 In the summer rainfall region, light orographic rains are common along the windward slopes of the eastern escarpment. Lower down, at heights of 1,100 to 1,500 m, orographic lifting of the moist air causes what is known as the ‘mist belt’.

2009 H. N. Le Houérou Bioclimatol. & Biogeogr. Afr. i. 52 In the mountains that run parallel to the SW shores of the Red Sea,..there is a more or less continuous mist belt between 600 and 1,800m elevation... In Somalia, S. Yemen and Hadramaout, this mist belt is the exclusive habitat of Frankincense trees.

mist blower n. a device for spraying insecticide into the tops of trees.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > [noun] > other agricultural implements

visgy1777

tomahawk1793

potato-scoop1810

rice stick1832

seed feeder1851

poniard1874

aphicide1883

thinner1943

mist blower1946

dung fork1951

wind-machine1976

1946 S. F. Potts & R. B. 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.

1986 C. Culpin Farm Machinery (ed. 11) ix. 163/1 Oil-based sprays applied without any addition of water by small engine-operated mist blowers.

mist-blowing n. the use of a mist-blower to treat trees, etc., with insecticide.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [noun] > pest control

mist-blowing1960

1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 12 Jan. 97/2 Mistblowing of fruit trees is a practical proposition.

mist-bow n. a white arch, resembling a rainbow, sometimes seen in misty weather.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > rainbow > [noun] > fog- or mist-bow

fogbow1820

fog-circle1820

fog-eater1828

mist-bow1874

1874 Nature 1 Oct. 438/1 (heading) Mist bows.

1897 Daily News 11 Dec. 8/3 Clouds on which brilliant mist-bows were thrown by the morning sunlight.

2009 New Scientist 21 Feb. 93/3 This was a fogbow, sometimes known as a cloudbow or mistbow.

mist flower n. a plant of the family Asteraceae ( Compositae), Conoclinium (Eupatorium) coelestinum, with clusters of bluish flowers, native to the central and south-eastern United States.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > non-British flowers > of south or tropical America

marvel of Peru1597

flower of the night1665

world's wonder1706

butterfly flower1731

mirabilis1754

four o'clock flower1756

bastard mustard1759

Browallia1782

bastard plantain1796

cleome1806

alonsoa1812

gloxinia1816

schizanthus1823

butterfly plant1825

petunia1825

sinningia1826

salpiglossis1827

mask flower1834

poinsettia1836

guaco1844

spiderwort1846

mist flower1848

balisier1858

spider flower1861

sun plant1862

eucharis1866

pretty-by-night1869

Rocky Mountain bee plant1870

urn-flower1891

tulip-poppy1909

smithiantha1917

poor man's orchid1922

ten o'clock1953

tiger-iris-

1848 A. Gray Man. Bot. Northern U.S. 194 Conoclinium, DC. Mist-flower.

1901 C. T. Mohr Plant Life Alabama 765 Mist flower... A common weed in cultivated and waste places, and on roadsides.

1986 Telegraph (Brisbane) 21 Nov. 14/2 The introduced mist flower species has became a problem.

† mist-hackle n. [ < mist n.¹ + hackle n.¹] poetic Obsolete a cloak or covering of mist.

ΚΠ

c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 2081 Vch hille hade a hatte, a myst-hakel huge.

mist maiden n. (a) poetic an ethereal female form, esp. a personification of mist; (b) U.S. regional, any member of the genus Romanzoffia (family Hydrophyllaceae), comprising small, white-flowered rock plants native to western North America; esp. R. sitchensis.

ΚΠ

1888 Atlantic Monthly Sept. 302/2 Then the winds gather the mist maidens, the waves hurl themselves upon the coast.

1897 M. E. Parsons Wild Flowers Calif. 22 Mist-maidens... These delicate herbs resemble the saxifrages, and they affect much the same sort of places, decking mossy banks and stream borders with their beautiful scalloped leaves and small white flowers.

1937 Amer. Midland Naturalist 18 979 Romanzoffia sitchensis Bong., Mist Maiden.

1976 A. Waldman Jrnls. & Dreams 128 Silver water cascading down to a silent place. Mist maiden, a tree hung around my neck.

1979 J. Hodgins Resurrection Joseph Bourne ii. i. 40 After all, she wasn't equipped like the waxy leaves of the Mist Maiden flower for shedding seawater before it could do her damage.

mist-pond n. = dew-pond n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > water > lake > pond > [noun] > dew-pond

dew-pond1865

mist-pond1893

1893 G. E. Dartnell & E. H. Goddard Gloss. Words Wilts. 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.

1910 W. H. Hudson Shepherd's Life (1993) xiv. 108 The only accessible water when they were out on the down was in the mist-pond.

1931 Notes & Queries 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.

mist propagation n. 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.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > management of plants > propagation of plants > [noun] > mist propagation

mist propagation1953

1941 Amer. Nurseryman 1 May 5 (title) Propagation under mist.]

1953 Amer. Nurseryman 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.

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.

mist propagator n. an installation for mist propagation.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > equipment and buildings > [noun] > propagator

propagator1885

mist propagator1963

1963 Amateur Gardening 20 Apr. Suppl. p. xviii (advt.) A sensational non-electric mist propagator.

1980 Amateur Gardening 25 Oct. 10/1 They do not respond to propagation by this method very well..unless one has the proper facilities, such as a mist propagator.

mist-tree n. rare the smoke bush, Cotinus coggygria.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.

ΚΠ

1890 Cent. Dict. at Rhus R. Cotinus is the smoke-tree, mist-tree, or purple fringe-tree.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

mistv.

Brit.

/mɪst/, U.S.

/mɪst/

Forms: Old English mistian, Middle English mest, Middle English mysse (probably transmission error), Middle English myst, Middle English– mist.

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: mist n.¹

Etymology: < mist n.¹Compare the rare Old English mistran in the same sense, a parallel formation with suffixation (one isolated occurrence: see quot. OE² at sense 1).

1. intransitive. To be or become misty; to gather or appear in the form of a mist; (of the eyes, vision, outlines, etc.) to become dim, obscure, or blurred.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > disordered vision > of vision: become disordered [verb (intransitive)] > become dim or poor

mistOE

duskc1230

daswen1382

dazec1386

dazzle1481

failc1540

film1844

the world > matter > liquid > moisture or humidity > be or become humid [verb (intransitive)]

mist1440

humect1686

OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 216 Caligo me mistiað mine eagan and haec caligo ðes mist.

OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Deut. (Claud.) xxxiv. 7 Hundtwelftig geara wæs Moyses, ða ða he gewat, & his eagan ne mistodon [OE Laud mistredon] ne his teð ne wagodon.

a1300 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 130 (MED) Wanne mine eyhnen misten..and mi nose koldet.

Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 340 Mysty, or grow roky as wedur, and mysty.

1650 H. Vaughan Silex Scintillans 51 I have deserv'd a thick, Egyptian damp, Dark as my deeds Should mist within me.

1818 J. Keats Endymion iii. 107 When thy gold breath is misting in the west.

1829 R. H. Froude Remains (1838) I. 241 It began to rain and blow, and, what was worse, to mist.

1891 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 23 Dec. Your eyes cannot but mist as you look and listen.

1937 G. Greene in Spectator 5 Feb. 219/2 The director cuts up from her bewildered eyes..to the electric globes hanging from the ceiling: they mist, disappear, come back to view again.

1975 T. Heald Deadline iv. 78 ‘Oh, Simon’ she said, her eyes misting with tears.

1991 Resurgence Jan. 2/2 He'd been deeply affected by what I'd said, and his eyes misted with an organic film of tears.

a. transitive. To cover or obscure with, or as with, mist; to envelop in mist; to make (the eyes, vision) dim with tears.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > types of vision > [verb (transitive)] > make sight dim

mist?a1439

beblear1609

tara1612

blast1757

a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) ii. 648 (MED) Flatrie..bleendith princis that they may nat see, Mistith the eyen off eueri gouernour.

1598 E. Guilpin Skialetheia sig. B4 He sits Misted with darknes like a smoaky roome.

1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxix. xxvii. 730 They were misted againe, and lost the sight of land.

1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear xxiv. 258 If that her breath will mist or staine the stone, Why then she liues.

1629 J. Gaule Practique Theories Christs Predict. 373 Perhaps, her lauish weeping..misted her eyes.

1631 T. Heywood Fair Maid of West: 2nd Pt. iii. sig. F3^v Let's mist our selves In a thick cloud of smoak.

1663 G. Mackenzie Religio Stoici 40 That Glass is now so misted and soyl'd.

1820 J. Keats Lamia ii, in Lamia & Other Poems 43 No soft bloom Misted the cheek.

1858 M. Oliphant Laird of Norlaw III. 220 Stars do not mist themselves with tender dew about the perversities of human kind as these eyes do.

1907 Daily Chron. 3 June 3/5 An exquisite draughtsman..who evolved the tender veil that mists his figures from the depths of his personality.

1967 W. Golding Pyramid (1969) 87 Rage misted my spectacles.

1994 R. Gunesekera Reef (1998) 33 The darkness of night misting the globe.

†b. transitive. To confuse or bewilder (a person, mental process, etc.). Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > act of perplexing > confuse, perplex, bewilder [verb (transitive)]

abobc1330

confusec1350

confoundc1374

cumbera1375

passc1384

maskerc1400

mopc1425

enose1430

manga1450

overmusec1460

perplex1477

maze1482

enmuse1502

ruffle?a1505

unsteady1532

entangle1540

duddle1548

intricate1548

distraught1579

distract1582

mizzle1583

moider1587

amuse1595

mist1598

bepuzzle1599

gravel1601

plunder1601

puzzle1603

intrigue1612

vexa1613

metagrobolize?a1616

befumea1618

fuddle1617

crucify1621

bumfiddlea1625

implicate1625

giddify1628

wilder1642

buzzlea1644

empuzzle1646

dunce1649

addle1652

meander1652

emberlucock1653

flounder1654

study1654

disorient1655

embarrass?1656

essome1660

embrangle1664

jumble1668

dunt1672

muse1673

clutter1685

emblustricate1693

fluster1720

disorientate1728

obfuscate1729

fickle1736

flustrate1797

unharmonize1797

mystify1806

maffle1811

boggle1835

unballast1836

stomber1841

throw1844

serpentine1850

unbalance1856

tickle1865

fog1872

bumfuzzle1878

wander1897

to put off1909

defeat1914

dither1919

befuddle1926

ungear1931

to screw up1941

1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie ii. v. sig. E5^v With Caduceus nimble Hermes fights, And mists my wit.

1613 S. 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 S. Rutherford Lett. (1863) I. cxviii. 294 If I were not misted, and confounded, and astonished how to be thankful.

1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 495 This double Errour mists mens Judgments concerning them.

1668 in L. B. Taylor Aberdeen Council Lett. (1954) IV. 342 I find the counsell verie much misted in it and that they can give no cleir resolutione anent it.

a. intransitive. To become covered over, up with mist or condensed moisture.

ΚΠ

1942 E. Bowen Bowen's Court i. 13 Fluctuations in temperature..make polish mist over and plaster sweat.

1980 G. Lord Fortress i. 10 She ran the hot water until the mirrors misted up.

1990 R. Smith Nemesis xiii. 123 There was an undercurrent of anxiety to her words and her eyes continually misted over.

b. transitive. To cover over, up with mist or condensed moisture.

ΚΠ

1953 K. Amis Lucky Jim xxiv. 245 His exertions had misted his glasses over.

1978 P. Matthiessen Snow Leopard i. 49 The snow cone..rises from the clouds behind and is quickly misted over.

1985 C. Phillips Final Passage 143 Her warm breath misted up the glass.

1994 Guardian 30 July (Summer Food & Drink Suppl.) 3/3 Three squabbling children in the back of a small car with the windows misted up.

4. transitive. To spray with a mist of vaporized moisture. Also intransitive.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > liquid > liquid flow > action or process of spraying > spray [verb (transitive)] > with fine particles or mist

vaporize1900

mist1967

1967 J. Kramer Flowering & Foliage Home Plants 8/1 Misting foliage is another way to increase humidity.

1976 National Observer (U.S.) 25 Sept. 9/2 Blakeley said he or an employe mist each plant three times a day.

1977 A. Tyler Earthly Possessions xiv. 167 I hope you're remembering to mist my ferns.

1988 Gardening Now Feb. 26/1 If possible, mist at least a couple of times a week.

1992 Glimmer Train Winter 21 She put on her prettiest dress and misted herself with a musky perfume she had saved for weeks to buy.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	mist
释义	mistn.¹ Brit. /mɪst/, U.S. /mɪst/ Forms: Old English–1600s (2000s– irregular) myst, Old English– mist, Middle English mest, Middle English meyst, Middle English miist, Middle English mijst, Middle English myist, Middle English–1500s myste, Middle English–1600s miste. Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: Cognate with Middle Dutch mest, mist (Dutch mist), Middle Low German mist, Middle High German mist, Icelandic mistr, mistur, Norwegian (regional or archaic) mist, Swedish mist, Danish mist < an extended form of the Indo-European base of Sanskrit mih mist, vapour, megha cloud, ancient Greek ὀμίχλη mist, cloud, Old Church Slavonic mĭgla mist, cloud, Russian mgla haze, Lithuanian migla mist, Albanian mjegull cloud, mist.Connection with mighe v., mig n.¹, and mix n.¹ is doubtful. I. Senses relating to a cloud of vapour. 1. a. A natural phenomenon consisting of a diffuse cloud of fine water droplets suspended in the atmosphere on or near the ground so as to limit visibility (but to a lesser extent than fog); such droplets viewed collectively as a substance or medium. Also figurative and in figurative context.In meteorology mist is now distinguished from fog as being less opaque, with visibility of at least one kilometre, and from haze, which is due to solid particles not water droplets. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > liquid > moisture or humidity > [noun] > moist vapour misteOE reekeOE humoura1382 steamc1440 the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cloud > mist > [noun] misteOE roke1292 vapourc1386 nyle1481 stove1513 fumec1550 rouka1586 misting1604 steam1612 dampa1616 petty-fog1641 smoke1648 brume1694 muga1728 ure1818 nebule1869 nebula1894 moist1903 M1904 clag1940 the world > matter > gas > [noun] > fumes or vapour > water in the form of > vapour or mist misteOE gum1513 mistiness1626 eOE Metres of Boethius (partly from transcript of damaged MS) v. 6 Gif him [sc. the stars] wan fore wolcen hangað, ne mægen hi swa leohtne leoman ansendan, ær se þicca mist þynra weorðe. OE Seven Sleepers (Julius) (1994) 34 Ða þicnyssa smices and ða bræðas ðæs flæsces stigon upp on ælce healfe geond þa byrig eall swilc hit mist wære. OE Antwerp Gloss. (1955) 217 Nebula, mist uel genip. OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) xv. 17 Ða ða sunne eode to setle, ða sloh ðær mycel mist. OE Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Corpus Cambr.) (1900) iv. xxxvii. 318 Of þære ea wære reccende se mist unaræfnedlicre fylnesse & unswetes stences. c1300 St. Edward Elder (Laud) 214 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 53 (MED) A-non so huy openeden þat lid of is swete toumbe þere, Þare cam a-doun þoruȝ al þe churche ase þei it a mist were..þat huy i-seien alle with eiȝe. c1300 St. Michael (Laud) 603 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 317 Ȝwane þe sonne hath þudere i-drawe þene mist for hete. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 139 Mist is frende to þeoves and to yuel doers, for he hidiþ here spyers & waytynges. a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 1445 Now gadirs mystes and cloudes in þe ayre. c1480 (a1400) St. Ninian 895 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 329 Bot myste ves in sic degre þat nan mocht a stane caste se. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 740/2 Whan the moysture of the dewe stryketh upwarde agayne, it maketh a myste. 1607 S. Hieron Remedie for Securitie in Wks. (1620) I. 438 Neither is euery myst of sorrow dissolued into teares. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xii. 629 As Ev'ning Mist Ris'n from a River o're the marish glides. View more context for this quotation 1713 G. Berkeley Three Dialogues Hylas & Philonous i. 25 Are then the beautiful Red and Purple we see on yonder Clouds, really in them? Or, do you imagine, they have in themselves any other Form, than that of a dark Mist, or Vapour? 1798 S. T. Coleridge Anc. Marinere i, in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 10 In mist or cloud on mast or shroud It perch'd for vespers nine. 1831 W. Scott Castle Dangerous iii, in Tales of my Landlord 4th Ser. III. 271 The mist had settled upon the hills, and unrolled itself upon brook, glade, and tarn. 1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 44 The position of a river is often marked by mist. 1955 Sci. Amer. May 67/1 The smallest stable droplets in fog are five microns in diameter; in mist they may be 25 microns. 1997 P. Carey Jack Maggs lxxiii. 273 When..the yellowish light of dawn penetrated the mist, he found they were bumping around the shore of a ‘pill’. †b. In proverbial (esp. similative) phrases. Obsolete. ΚΠ c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 7364 Ich hope..We schul hem driue, so sonne doþ mist! c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods (1896) 1988 Derke as a myste or a feynyd fable. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Isa. xliv. D As for thyne offences, I dryue them awaye like the cloudes, and thy synnes as the myst. c. Condensed vapour settling as fine droplets on a surface. ΚΠ 1870 J. F. Clarke Steps to Belief 11 A film of mist comes over the object-glass. 1889 ‘M. Twain’ Connecticut Yankee xxi. 265 Not a whiff of moisture hath he [sc. Merlin] started yet, even so much as might qualify as mist upon a copper mirror. 1932 G. Greene Stamboul Train i. i. 9 The mist from his breath obscured the pane. 1977 J. Johnston Shadows on our Skin 84 He..rubbed the smeary mist off the inside of the window with the sleeve of his anorak. 1983 M. Magorian Goodnight, Mister Tom (BNC) 57 Willie peered in the window and wiped away the mist his breath was making on the glass. d. A localized cloud of fine water droplets produced artificially (e.g. by means of a spray), esp. for horticultural purposes. ΚΠ 1941 Amer. Nurseryman 1 May 5 (title) Propagation under mist. 1970 Materials & Technol. III. ix. 704 Exposure to a continuous mist of salt water, the so-called salt-spray test,..does not truly simulate atmospheric exposure. 1976 S. M. Gault Dict. Shrubs in Colour 122/1 Theses shrubs may be propagated from summer cuttings under mist. 1990 W. A. Livesey GCSE Motor Vehicle Stud. iv. 51/1 The spray from the injector is in the form of a fine mist, often referred to as atomised. 2. a. A cloud (of smoke, vapour, small atmospheric particles, etc.) resembling a mist; a haze. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cloud > mist > [noun] > haze haze1582 oama1728 mist1785 maze1813 dry urea1824 gauze1842 blight1848 slur1880 c1175 ( Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 167 Þa com þær færinge swiðe beorht ȝenip, and heom ealle ofersceadewæde; and an stæfne wæs iworden on þam miste. a1225 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Lamb.) 16 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 161 Ne michte ich seon bifore me for smike ne for miste. c1390 (?a1350) Trental St. Gregory (Vernon(1)) l. 55 in C. Horstmann Minor Poems Vernon MS (1892) i. 262 (MED) And in þat derknesse a myst among, Al stoneyd he was, such stunch þer stong. a1425 Medulla Gram. (Stonyhurst) f. 68 Vapor, smokynge or myst. c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods (1896) 310 And next to her was god Pluto set, With a derke Myst enuyrond all aboute... Of fyre and sulphure all hys odour wase. 1568 D. Lindsay Suplication Syde Taillis in Wks. (1931) I. 120 I wald thay borrowstounis barnis had breikkis, To keip sic mist fra Malkinnis cheikkis. 1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. iii. 154 The Magnetical Exspirations of the Loadstone may..be seen in the form of a mist. 1785 W. Cowper Task i. 360 The rustling straw sends up a frequent mist Of atoms. 1794 A. Radcliffe Myst. of Udolpho I. i. 2 The plains of Guienne and Languedoc were lost in the mist of distance. 1900 E. Wharton Gift from Grave vi. 74 A mist of cigarette smoke. 1987 My Weekly 21 Feb. 31/2 The sweet flour would..spread its fine mist over the floor. b. figurative. A dimness or haziness produced by time. Frequently in plural, esp. in mists of time.Cf. also sense 5. ΘΚΠ the world > time > duration > [noun] > remote time or distance mist1701 deep time1832 azure1834 the world > time > relative time > the past > [noun] > mist or haze of distant time mist1701 1701 M. Chudleigh Ladies Defence 22 And who see clearly thro' the Mists of Time, Those puzling Glooms where busy Mortals stray. 1810 P. B. Shelley St. Irvyne's Tower v. 4 Why may not human minds unveil The dim mists of futurity? 1812 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Cantos I & II ii. ii. 62 And o'er each mouldering tower, Dim with the mist of years, grey flits the shade of power. 1869 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest III. xi. 5 Times..half shrouded in the mist of legend. 1912 S. C. Roy Mundas & their Country i. 16 The site of the original home of the Mundas will perhaps ever remain hidden from view in the mist of ages. 1996 Business Age June 95/1 Way back in the mists of time, when the Stock Exchange still had a trading floor. 3. A grey colour suggestive of mist. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [noun] > light grey elephant's breath1884 mist1926 1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 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. II. Senses relating to haziness of vision. 4. a. Dimness of eyesight; a haze or film before the eyes caused by a sight disorder, the shedding of tears, etc. Also spec. in early use (frequently with the): such blurred vision as a medical condition. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > disordered vision > [noun] > dimness or poor vision dimnessc825 misteOE mistinessa1382 scotomiaa1400 scotomya1400 obfuscation?a1425 scotoma1543 purblindness1552 sand-blindness1552 caligation1615 caliginousness1620 weak-sightedness1632 cecutiency1646 caliginosity1657 dimsightedness1662 dim1726 caligo1801 asthenopia1875 greying out?1942 eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) i. ii. 26 Læcedomas wiþ eagna miste. OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1900) II. 256 Þa wurdon his eagan yfele gehefegode, mid toswollenum breawum, and swiðlicum myste swa þæt his seon swyðe þeostrodon. lOE Recipe (Faust. A.x) in T. O. Cockayne Leechdoms, Wortcunning, & Starcraft (1866) III. 292 Ðeos eahsealf mæg wiþ ælces cynnes broc on eagon, wiþ flean on eagon, & wiþ gewif, & wiþ mist. a1300 (c1275) Physiologus (1991) 76 Of hise eȝen wereð ðe mist. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 297^v Þe myste..is cause of dymnesse in þe eyȝe. c1450 in W. R. Dawson Leechbk. (1934) 178 (MED) A lectuary for many yueles..for sores in the side, for the myst, and for the stomake. a1500 in Trans. Hist. Soc. Lancs. & Cheshire (1877) 29 2 (MED) For rotinge of lyuer and binge, brest & myste. 1655 N. Culpeper et al. tr. L. Rivière Pract. Physick xiv. iv. 385 They have the Head-ach, mists before their Eyes, and giddiness. 1698 R. South 12 Serm. III. 99 Where there is a Giddiness in the Head, there will always be a mist before the Eyes. 1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 86 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 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 66 Such patients usually complain of a mist before their eyes. 1915 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Island xiv. 145 Anne, looking down through a mist of tears, at her old playfellow, thought she saw the face God had meant Ruby to have. 1982 R. Anderson Poacher's Son (1984) x. 87 Through the mist of fever, I saw Mrs Craske come to the loft and cool our heads with a wet cloth. b. In phrases with reference to the obscuring of (physical or mental) vision; esp. in to cast (also throw) a mist before a person's eyes (now rare): to produce mystification or confusion, to deceive; formerly also simply †to cast a mist (also mists) (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > act of perplexing > perplex, nonplus [phrase] to bring (drive, or put) to one's wit's end1377 to cast (also throw) a mist before a person's eyes?a1475 to set (also run) on ground1600 to make butter and cheese of1642 to put to the gaze1646 philogrobolized in one's brains1653 to strike all of (on) a heap1711 to blow, cast, throw stour in one's eyes1823 knot1860 to give (one) furiously to think1910 ?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 159 A derke devyll with falsnese I saye shall cast a myst in þe kynggys eye. 1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus Offundere caliginem oculis, to cast a miste before ones eyes. 1579 S. Gosson Schoole of Abuse f. 2 The Iugler casteth a myst to work the closer. 1607 T. Dekker Whore of Babylon sig. H4 They say you can throw mists before our eyes, To make vs thinke you faire. 1641 J. Milton Of Prelatical Episc. 19 And thus much for this cloud I cannot say rather then petty-fog of witnesses, with which Episcopall men would cast a mist before us. a1674 Earl of Clarendon Brief View Leviathan (1676) 26 And by a mist of words..he dazles Mens eies. 1750 S. 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. 1828 C. Lamb Capt. Jackson in Elia 2nd Ser. 194 He was a juggler, who threw mists before your eyes. 1920 F. S. Fitzgerald This Side of Paradise (Interlude) 173 May the King of the elements cast a mist over the eyes of the King of Foreign. 5. a. Any of various immaterial things conceived as obscuring a person's mental vision or outlook, or as veiling the real character or blurring the outlines of a thing. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [noun] > source of obscurity misteOE obscurer1869 eOE Metres of Boethius xxiii. 188 Gif he..of him selfum ðone sweartan mist, modes þiostro, mæg aweorpan. eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) v. 14 Þa mistas ðe þæt mod gedrefað. OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1900) II. 164 Eall middaneard is mid miste befangen deopre nytennysse buton us drihten crist oþþe his leoht forgife, oþþe us læde onweg. a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. 1866 (MED) Thus stant this world fulfild of Mist, That noman seth the rihte weie. c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame 352 Every thing ys wyst, Though hit be kevered with the myst. 1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1845) x. 36 The fatall problemes of olde antiquyte, Cloked wyth myst and wyth cloudes derke. 1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Siiii^v Al cloudes & mystes vtterly purged and expulsed out of our soules. a1571 W. Haddon in A. Fleming Panoplie Epist. (1576) 416 All mystes and fogges of ignoraunce. 1667 T. Sprat Hist. Royal-Soc. ii. 112 Who can behold, without indignation, how many mists and uncertainties, these specious Tropes and Figures have brought on our Knowledg? a1686 J. Gordon Hist. Scots Affairs (1841) I. 87 The ministers who pressed the Covenant, strive to walke in a miste, and keepe their intentions misticall. 1728 J. Veneer tr. Compan. Sincere Penitent Pref. 7 Those mists and false notions which our infirmities, education or conversation may have thrown in our way. 1779 S. Johnson Cowley in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets I. 2 All is shown confused and enlarged through the mist of panegyrick. 1810 Sporting Mag. 36 153 There is a kind of mist or dubiosity playing about it. 1842 Ld. Tennyson Will Waterproof's Monologue in Poems (new ed.) II. 184 And softly, thro' a vinous mist, My college friendships glimmer. 1852 M. Arnold Empedocles on Etna, & Other Poems ii. 67 The mists Of despondency and gloom. 1901 R. Kipling Kim iii. 60 He was led to speak harshly by the Red Mist of anger. 1959 J. Barzun House of Intellect v. 116 They rely on powers of divination to glimpse historical or literary or scientific truth through the mists of adolescent incoherence. †b. Chiefly poetic. With reference to death. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1729 R. Savage Wanderer iii. 280 Sad o'er the sight swim shadowy mists of death. 1866 B. Taylor Autumnal Vespers in Poems Death's mist shall strike along her veins. 1878 R. Browning La Saisiaz 484 As soul is quenchless by the deathly mists. 6. A state of obscurity, uncertainty, or bewilderment; an atmosphere of doubt. 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 1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. (1557) 401/2 They wil clerely dissipate & discusse the myst that he fain would walke in. a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) ii. ii. 219 Ile say as they say, and perseuer so: And in this mist at all aduentures go. View more context for this quotation 1650 N. Ward Discolliminium 54 The Grand Cause of this Realme..is yet in the myst to many..judicious men. 1678 E. M. Thompson Corr. Family of Hatton (1878) I. 161 My Lord wee are in a mighty mist w^ht our buisnesse is heere. a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 510 In this mist matters must be left till the great revelation of all secrets. 1843 E. B. Barrett Let. 23 Dec. (1990) VIII. 104 I feel myself in a mist—& in a sort of fear of confounding the maiden didacticism of Mrs Ellis. a1854 R. M. Bird News of Night v. i, in America's Lost Plays (1941) XII. 181 No 'twas better—this is, worse—Oh, the lord! No 'twasn't worse neither! AG. Why, you goose, you are in a mist. 1910 E. M. Forster Howards End xxvii. 236 We are all in a mist—I know, but I can help you this far. Compounds C1. a. General attributive. mist-cloud n. ΚΠ 1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt II. 265 The white clinging mist-cloud. 1884 R. Jefferies Life of Fields 133 The inclined plane of mist-clouds again reflects a grey light. mist-drop n. ΚΠ 1860 E. B. Pusey Minor Prophets 375 Countless multitudes of mist-drops. 1889 W. B. Yeats Wanderings of Oisin I. 2 The mist-drops hung on the fragrant trees. 1988 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 26 May 30 Night has come to Vietnam. Indoors, the mist-drops waft through open screens. mist-light n. ΚΠ 1914 S. Lewis Our Mr. Wrenn iv. 58 Unearthily glancing with mist-lights. 1983 S. Cooper Seaward vii. 56 The mist-light flowed out around them. mist-magic n. ΚΠ 1921 R. Graves Pier-glass 12 Cold fog-drawn Lily, pale mist-magic Rose. mist-mote n. ΚΠ 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. mist-pavilion n. ΚΠ 1925 C. Day Lewis Beechen Vigil 26 Now from blue mist-pavilion You may see King Silence go Royally through the forest. mist-plash n. ΚΠ 1916 E. Blunden Harbingers 33 So heavily drives the rain, and lashes The open pool into white mist-plashes. mist-sheet n. ΚΠ 1917 D. H. Lawrence Look! We have come Through! 47 A thick mist-sheet lies over the broken wheat. mist-thread n. ΚΠ 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. mist veil n. ΚΠ 1928 E. Blunden Retreat 14 Or mist-veil brushed thee, fine as yet was wove For moonmaid's clothing. 1998 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 3 May 14 The sun's warmth draws back the mist veil. mist-wreath n. ΚΠ 1811 W. Scott Don Roderick lxiii. 55 All the phantasms of my brain, Melted away like mist-wreaths in the sun. 1862 G. Meredith Poems (1978) I. 106 The Muscovite stole thro' the mist-wreaths. b. Objective. mist-sprayer n. ΚΠ 1975 Wall St. Jrnl. 26 June 38/2 Its Calmar division plans to build a..plant..which initially will produce safety closures and fine-mist sprayers.] 1984 N.Y. Times 12 Aug. v. 3/1 The Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee has provided 13 ‘spray stations’, where runners can pick up a wet sponge or can run under a mist-sprayer. 2000 Arizona Republic (Nexis) 11 Oct. g9 Water the seeds daily with a fine mist sprayer. c. Instrumental and parasynthetic. mist-blotted adj. ΚΠ 1864 Ld. Tennyson Enoch Arden in Enoch Arden, etc. 37 A great mist-blotted light Flared on him. mist-blurred adj. ΚΠ 1880 Academy 11 Dec. 415 The whole view is mist-blurred and indistinct. mist-circled adj. ΚΠ 1935 W. Empson Poems 27 Starlit, mistcircled, one whole pearl embrowned. mist-clad adj. ΚΠ 1795 C. Lloyd Elegy on Poor Man's Grave in Poems on Various Subjects 32 Her mist-clad power shall waft the gentle gale To fan the flowers that deck thy earthy bed. a1983 B. Coffey Poems & Versions (1991) 169 There did seem clear in sight A path into the mist-clad sea. mist-coloured adj. ΚΠ 1890 Cent. Dict. Mist-colored. 1929 W. Faulkner Sartoris 224 That 'ere mist-colored stallion. mist-covered adj. ΚΠ a1822 P. B. Shelley Death in T. J. Hogg Life Shelley (1858) I. 197 Tell me..What awaits on Futurity's mist-covered shore? 1895 W. B. Yeats Poems 27 And now fled by, mist-covered, without sound, The youth and lady and the deer and hound. mist-dimmed adj. ΚΠ 1880 ‘M. Twain’ Tramp Abroad xxxv. 398 Along their mist-dimmed heights [i.e. of the Alps]. mist-enshrouded adj. ΚΠ 1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xxxiii. 343 Towards the mist-enshrouded city. 2000 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 4 Mar. v. 31/1 Behind us rose gray, mist-enshrouded mountains. † mist-exhaling adj. Obsolete rare ΚΠ 1782 J. Scott Amœbean Eclogues ii, in Poet. Wks. 114 Dull are slow Ousa's mist-exhaling plains. mist-hung adj. ΚΠ 1601 J. Weever Mirror of Martyrs sig. C8 A mist-hung Star-exhaled Meteor. 1925 V. Lindsay Chinese Nightingale in Coll. Poems i. 31 Dare you forget that turquoise dawn When we stood in our mist-hung velvet lawn. † mist-impelling adj. Obsolete rare ΚΠ 1777 W. Mason Eng. Garden (ed. 2) ii. 396 The sable ensign of the night Unfurl'd by mist-impelling Eurus. mist-laden adj. ΚΠ 1899 F. T. Bullen Way Navy 85 The secret of Ireland's greenness is the mist-laden Gulf Stream. mist-shrouded adj. ΚΠ 1876 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer xix, in Austral. Town & Country Jrnl. (Sydney) 30 Dec. 1062/3 The mist-shrouded pinnacle of the moments known as success. 1976 Eastern Evening News (Norwich) 22 Dec. 9/2 They all end up on Kong's mist-shrouded island in the Pacific. mist-tracked adj. ΚΠ 1867 M. Arnold Heine's Grave in New Poems 204 And mist-track'd stream of the wide..German land. mist-veiled adj. ΚΠ 1908 Daily Chron. 14 Nov. 4/4 Down the damp roadway move long lines of mist-veiled traffic. 1932 T. E. Lawrence tr. Homer Odyssey iii The smooth wall of cliff which sheerly fronts the mist-veiled sea. mist-wreathed adj. ΚΠ 1849 M. Arnold Strayed Reveller, & Other Poems 123 Make, whistling, towards his mist-wreath'd flock. 1932 R. Macaulay They were Defeated i. xiii. 104 Dean Wood..would be lying mist-wreathed and vast beneath the moors. mist-wreathen adj. ΚΠ 1864 Ld. Tennyson Enoch Arden in Enoch Arden, etc. 35 The mist-wreathen isle. mist-wrought adj. ΚΠ 1896 P. L. Dunbar Lyrics Lowly Life 15 Up comes the gale, And the mist-wrought veil Gives way to the lightning's glare. 1909 E. Pound Personae 43 Slender as mist-wrought maids and hamadryads. d. Similative. mist-cold adj. ΚΠ 1889 W. B. Yeats Wanderings of Oisin iii. 34 Came now the sliding of tears and sweeping of mist-cold hair. mist-green adj. ΚΠ 1961 A. Sillitoe Key to Door iv. xxvi. 389 Green fields rolling up to..Catstone Wood, a mist-green spearblade of sky above. mist-pale adj. ΚΠ 1849 C. Brontë Shirley III. vi. 142 He would rather have appointed tryste with a phantom abbess, or mist-pale nun. mist-wet adj. ΚΠ 1776 W. J. Mickle tr. L. de Camoens Lusiad vii. 298 Distant navies rear the mist-wet sail. 1996 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch (Nexis) 13 Oct. 81 As if anyone in stocking feet would head down mist-wet hillsides..at midnight. mist-wild adj. ΚΠ 1936 L. B. Lyon Bright Feather Fading 48 Mist-wild you melt now, gossamer fawn. C2. mist-belt n. a region in which mist and high humidity are so common that they have a notable effect on vegetation and agriculture; esp. any of several areas in the eastern foothills of the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa, lying mainly between 1100 and 1500 metres above sea level; (also) any of several mountainous regions extending from south-eastern Egypt to the Horn of Africa; these areas collectively. ΚΠ 1902 Proc. Royal Colonial Inst. 33 87 What is called the ‘mist belt’ throughout Natal gets forty-five to fifty inches [of rain]. 1951 Archeol. & Nat. Resources Natal (Univ. Natal) 56 The agricultural significance of these local scarps has given rise to a specific term, namely the ‘mist belt’, in which are to be found most of the wattle plantations, mixed-dairy farms and horticultural nurseries of Natal. 1988 S. Afr. 1987–8: Official Yearbk. (S. Afr. Bureau for Information) 9 In the summer rainfall region, light orographic rains are common along the windward slopes of the eastern escarpment. Lower down, at heights of 1,100 to 1,500 m, orographic lifting of the moist air causes what is known as the ‘mist belt’. 2009 H. N. Le Houérou Bioclimatol. & Biogeogr. Afr. i. 52 In the mountains that run parallel to the SW shores of the Red Sea,..there is a more or less continuous mist belt between 600 and 1,800m elevation... In Somalia, S. Yemen and Hadramaout, this mist belt is the exclusive habitat of Frankincense trees. mist blower n. a device for spraying insecticide into the tops of trees. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > [noun] > other agricultural implements visgy1777 tomahawk1793 potato-scoop1810 rice stick1832 seed feeder1851 poniard1874 aphicide1883 thinner1943 mist blower1946 dung fork1951 wind-machine1976 1946 S. F. Potts & R. B. 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. 1986 C. Culpin Farm Machinery (ed. 11) ix. 163/1 Oil-based sprays applied without any addition of water by small engine-operated mist blowers. mist-blowing n. the use of a mist-blower to treat trees, etc., with insecticide. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [noun] > pest control mist-blowing1960 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 12 Jan. 97/2 Mistblowing of fruit trees is a practical proposition. mist-bow n. a white arch, resembling a rainbow, sometimes seen in misty weather. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > rainbow > [noun] > fog- or mist-bow fogbow1820 fog-circle1820 fog-eater1828 mist-bow1874 1874 Nature 1 Oct. 438/1 (heading) Mist bows. 1897 Daily News 11 Dec. 8/3 Clouds on which brilliant mist-bows were thrown by the morning sunlight. 2009 New Scientist 21 Feb. 93/3 This was a fogbow, sometimes known as a cloudbow or mistbow. mist flower n. a plant of the family Asteraceae ( Compositae), Conoclinium (Eupatorium) coelestinum, with clusters of bluish flowers, native to the central and south-eastern United States. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > non-British flowers > of south or tropical America marvel of Peru1597 flower of the night1665 world's wonder1706 butterfly flower1731 mirabilis1754 four o'clock flower1756 bastard mustard1759 Browallia1782 bastard plantain1796 cleome1806 alonsoa1812 gloxinia1816 schizanthus1823 butterfly plant1825 petunia1825 sinningia1826 salpiglossis1827 mask flower1834 poinsettia1836 guaco1844 spiderwort1846 mist flower1848 balisier1858 spider flower1861 sun plant1862 eucharis1866 pretty-by-night1869 Rocky Mountain bee plant1870 urn-flower1891 tulip-poppy1909 smithiantha1917 poor man's orchid1922 ten o'clock1953 tiger-iris- 1848 A. Gray Man. Bot. Northern U.S. 194 Conoclinium, DC. Mist-flower. 1901 C. T. Mohr Plant Life Alabama 765 Mist flower... A common weed in cultivated and waste places, and on roadsides. 1986 Telegraph (Brisbane) 21 Nov. 14/2 The introduced mist flower species has became a problem. † mist-hackle n. [ < mist n.¹ + hackle n.¹] poetic Obsolete a cloak or covering of mist. ΚΠ c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 2081 Vch hille hade a hatte, a myst-hakel huge. mist maiden n. (a) poetic an ethereal female form, esp. a personification of mist; (b) U.S. regional, any member of the genus Romanzoffia (family Hydrophyllaceae), comprising small, white-flowered rock plants native to western North America; esp. R. sitchensis. ΚΠ 1888 Atlantic Monthly Sept. 302/2 Then the winds gather the mist maidens, the waves hurl themselves upon the coast. 1897 M. E. Parsons Wild Flowers Calif. 22 Mist-maidens... These delicate herbs resemble the saxifrages, and they affect much the same sort of places, decking mossy banks and stream borders with their beautiful scalloped leaves and small white flowers. 1937 Amer. Midland Naturalist 18 979 Romanzoffia sitchensis Bong., Mist Maiden. 1976 A. Waldman Jrnls. & Dreams 128 Silver water cascading down to a silent place. Mist maiden, a tree hung around my neck. 1979 J. Hodgins Resurrection Joseph Bourne ii. i. 40 After all, she wasn't equipped like the waxy leaves of the Mist Maiden flower for shedding seawater before it could do her damage. mist-pond n. = dew-pond n. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > water > lake > pond > [noun] > dew-pond dew-pond1865 mist-pond1893 1893 G. E. Dartnell & E. H. Goddard Gloss. Words Wilts. 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. 1910 W. H. Hudson Shepherd's Life (1993) xiv. 108 The only accessible water when they were out on the down was in the mist-pond. 1931 Notes & Queries 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. mist propagation n. 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. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > management of plants > propagation of plants > [noun] > mist propagation mist propagation1953 1941 Amer. Nurseryman 1 May 5 (title) Propagation under mist.] 1953 Amer. Nurseryman 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. 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. mist propagator n. an installation for mist propagation. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > equipment and buildings > [noun] > propagator propagator1885 mist propagator1963 1963 Amateur Gardening 20 Apr. Suppl. p. xviii (advt.) A sensational non-electric mist propagator. 1980 Amateur Gardening 25 Oct. 10/1 They do not respond to propagation by this method very well..unless one has the proper facilities, such as a mist propagator. mist-tree n. rare the smoke bush, Cotinus coggygria.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries. ΚΠ 1890 Cent. Dict. at Rhus R. Cotinus is the smoke-tree, mist-tree, or purple fringe-tree. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022). † mistn.² Forms: Middle English myst, Middle English myste, 1600s mist. Origin: Of uncertain origin. Etymology: Origin uncertain; perhaps spuriously inferred < mystic adj.; or perhaps < mist n.¹, after mystery n.¹, mystic n. Compare misty adj.² Obsolete. Spiritual or mystical matters. in mist: mystically. ΘΚΠ society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > mysticism > [adverb] in (also through) his mysteryc1350 in mistc1400 mysteriallyc1425 mysticlyc1429 in (a) mystery1526 mystically1552 society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > mysticism > a mystery > [noun] privity?c1225 mysteryc1384 mistc1400 c1400 (?c1380) Pearl 462 (MED) Ryȝt so is vch a Krysten sawhe [read sawle] A longande lym to þe Mayster of myste. c1450 in F. J. Furnivall Hymns to Virgin & Christ (1867) 41 (MED) Þese prophetis speken so in myst, What þei mente we neuere knewe. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost 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. View more context for this quotation This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online December 2020). † mistn.³ Forms: late Middle English miste. Origin: Formed within English, by clipping or shortening. Etymon: mister n.¹ Etymology: Shortened < mister n.¹ Obsolete. Need. Cf. mister n.¹ 8, 9. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > need or want > [noun] > need arising from the circumstances needeOE mistera1325 mist?a1425 occasion1545 ?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 41 Þat þai schuld lede me fra citee to citee, if miste ware. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online December 2021). mistn.⁴ Brit. /mɪst/, U.S. /mɪst/, South African English /mɪst/ Forms: 1800s– mest, 1800s– mist, 1900s– miste. Origin: A borrowing from Dutch. Etymon: Dutch mest. Etymology: < Dutch mest manure (see mix n.¹), with -i- probably due to influence of Afrikaans mis (see mis n.², a subsequent borrowing which is now the more common word in South African English). Compare earlier mest-koek n. South African. 1. = mis n.² 1. ΚΠ 1852 C. Barter Dorp & Veld vi. 51 This evening our fire was of mest or dried cow-dung, which turns to a white ash, gives a great heat, and is no bad substitute for wood. 1896 R. Wallace Farming Industries Cape Colony 482 It is the practice to cut the material, which resembles a light fibrous peat and is known as ‘mist’, into slabs. 1902 J. H. M. Abbott Tommy Cornstalk 89 The Boers themselves depend for their fire on an evil composition known as ‘mest’. It is essentially dried cattle dung. 1925 L. D. Flemming Crop of Chaff (ed. 2) 111 Digging miste out of the kraal. 2. = mis n.² 2. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > other manufactured or derived materials > [noun] > from animals gold skin1507 mouth gluec1540 water glue1542 isinglass1545 gold-beater's skin1710 sea-glass1753 book1765 bone1812 mist1852 staple isinglass1879 mist1896 mis1958 1896 R. Wallace Farming Industries Cape Colony 350 The floor must be level and paved with cobble-stones... If built of ‘mist’, ventilation spaces should be left at the base of the walls. 1925 P. Smith Little Karoo 17 The floors..she smeared regularly with a mixture of cowdung and ashes called mist. The little house smelt always of mist. 1963 R. B. Lewcock Early 19th Cent. Archit. S. Afr. viii. 160 Following traditional Cape practice, such composition floors were sometimes smeared at regular intervals with a mixture of cow dung and water known to the settlers as ‘mist’. 1991 Best of S. Afr. Short Stories 110 The floor was smeared—often in traditional, swirling patterns—with mis or ‘mist’.., a cattle dung mix which might contain ash, mud, water and blood. This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022). mistv. Brit. /mɪst/, U.S. /mɪst/ Forms: Old English mistian, Middle English mest, Middle English mysse (probably transmission error), Middle English myst, Middle English– mist. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: mist n.¹ Etymology: < mist n.¹Compare the rare Old English mistran in the same sense, a parallel formation with suffixation (one isolated occurrence: see quot. OE² at sense 1). 1. intransitive. To be or become misty; to gather or appear in the form of a mist; (of the eyes, vision, outlines, etc.) to become dim, obscure, or blurred. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > disordered vision > of vision: become disordered [verb (intransitive)] > become dim or poor mistOE duskc1230 daswen1382 dazec1386 dazzle1481 failc1540 film1844 the world > matter > liquid > moisture or humidity > be or become humid [verb (intransitive)] mist1440 humect1686 OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 216 Caligo me mistiað mine eagan and haec caligo ðes mist. OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Deut. (Claud.) xxxiv. 7 Hundtwelftig geara wæs Moyses, ða ða he gewat, & his eagan ne mistodon [OE Laud mistredon] ne his teð ne wagodon. a1300 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 130 (MED) Wanne mine eyhnen misten..and mi nose koldet. Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 340 Mysty, or grow roky as wedur, and mysty. 1650 H. Vaughan Silex Scintillans 51 I have deserv'd a thick, Egyptian damp, Dark as my deeds Should mist within me. 1818 J. Keats Endymion iii. 107 When thy gold breath is misting in the west. 1829 R. H. Froude Remains (1838) I. 241 It began to rain and blow, and, what was worse, to mist. 1891 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 23 Dec. Your eyes cannot but mist as you look and listen. 1937 G. Greene in Spectator 5 Feb. 219/2 The director cuts up from her bewildered eyes..to the electric globes hanging from the ceiling: they mist, disappear, come back to view again. 1975 T. Heald Deadline iv. 78 ‘Oh, Simon’ she said, her eyes misting with tears. 1991 Resurgence Jan. 2/2 He'd been deeply affected by what I'd said, and his eyes misted with an organic film of tears. 2. a. transitive. To cover or obscure with, or as with, mist; to envelop in mist; to make (the eyes, vision) dim with tears. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > types of vision > [verb (transitive)] > make sight dim mist?a1439 beblear1609 tara1612 blast1757 a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) ii. 648 (MED) Flatrie..bleendith princis that they may nat see, Mistith the eyen off eueri gouernour. 1598 E. Guilpin Skialetheia sig. B4 He sits Misted with darknes like a smoaky roome. 1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxix. xxvii. 730 They were misted againe, and lost the sight of land. 1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear xxiv. 258 If that her breath will mist or staine the stone, Why then she liues. View more context for this quotation 1629 J. Gaule Practique Theories Christs Predict. 373 Perhaps, her lauish weeping..misted her eyes. 1631 T. Heywood Fair Maid of West: 2nd Pt. iii. sig. F3^v Let's mist our selves In a thick cloud of smoak. 1663 G. Mackenzie Religio Stoici 40 That Glass is now so misted and soyl'd. 1820 J. Keats Lamia ii, in Lamia & Other Poems 43 No soft bloom Misted the cheek. 1858 M. Oliphant Laird of Norlaw III. 220 Stars do not mist themselves with tender dew about the perversities of human kind as these eyes do. 1907 Daily Chron. 3 June 3/5 An exquisite draughtsman..who evolved the tender veil that mists his figures from the depths of his personality. 1967 W. Golding Pyramid (1969) 87 Rage misted my spectacles. 1994 R. Gunesekera Reef (1998) 33 The darkness of night misting the globe. †b. transitive. To confuse or bewilder (a person, mental process, etc.). Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > act of perplexing > confuse, perplex, bewilder [verb (transitive)] abobc1330 confusec1350 confoundc1374 cumbera1375 passc1384 maskerc1400 mopc1425 enose1430 manga1450 overmusec1460 perplex1477 maze1482 enmuse1502 ruffle?a1505 unsteady1532 entangle1540 duddle1548 intricate1548 distraught1579 distract1582 mizzle1583 moider1587 amuse1595 mist1598 bepuzzle1599 gravel1601 plunder1601 puzzle1603 intrigue1612 vexa1613 metagrobolize?a1616 befumea1618 fuddle1617 crucify1621 bumfiddlea1625 implicate1625 giddify1628 wilder1642 buzzlea1644 empuzzle1646 dunce1649 addle1652 meander1652 emberlucock1653 flounder1654 study1654 disorient1655 embarrass?1656 essome1660 embrangle1664 jumble1668 dunt1672 muse1673 clutter1685 emblustricate1693 fluster1720 disorientate1728 obfuscate1729 fickle1736 flustrate1797 unharmonize1797 mystify1806 maffle1811 boggle1835 unballast1836 stomber1841 throw1844 serpentine1850 unbalance1856 tickle1865 fog1872 bumfuzzle1878 wander1897 to put off1909 defeat1914 dither1919 befuddle1926 ungear1931 to screw up1941 1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie ii. v. sig. E5^v With Caduceus nimble Hermes fights, And mists my wit. 1613 S. 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 S. Rutherford Lett. (1863) I. cxviii. 294 If I were not misted, and confounded, and astonished how to be thankful. 1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 495 This double Errour mists mens Judgments concerning them. 1668 in L. B. Taylor Aberdeen Council Lett. (1954) IV. 342 I find the counsell verie much misted in it and that they can give no cleir resolutione anent it. 3. a. intransitive. To become covered over, up with mist or condensed moisture. ΚΠ 1942 E. Bowen Bowen's Court i. 13 Fluctuations in temperature..make polish mist over and plaster sweat. 1980 G. Lord Fortress i. 10 She ran the hot water until the mirrors misted up. 1990 R. Smith Nemesis xiii. 123 There was an undercurrent of anxiety to her words and her eyes continually misted over. b. transitive. To cover over, up with mist or condensed moisture. ΚΠ 1953 K. Amis Lucky Jim xxiv. 245 His exertions had misted his glasses over. 1978 P. Matthiessen Snow Leopard i. 49 The snow cone..rises from the clouds behind and is quickly misted over. 1985 C. Phillips Final Passage 143 Her warm breath misted up the glass. 1994 Guardian 30 July (Summer Food & Drink Suppl.) 3/3 Three squabbling children in the back of a small car with the windows misted up. 4. transitive. To spray with a mist of vaporized moisture. Also intransitive. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > liquid > liquid flow > action or process of spraying > spray [verb (transitive)] > with fine particles or mist vaporize1900 mist1967 1967 J. Kramer Flowering & Foliage Home Plants 8/1 Misting foliage is another way to increase humidity. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 25 Sept. 9/2 Blakeley said he or an employe mist each plant three times a day. 1977 A. Tyler Earthly Possessions xiv. 167 I hope you're remembering to mist my ferns. 1988 Gardening Now Feb. 26/1 If possible, mist at least a couple of times a week. 1992 Glimmer Train Winter 21 She put on her prettiest dress and misted herself with a musky perfume she had saved for weeks to buy. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.¹eOEn.²c1400n.³?a1425n.⁴1852v.OE
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mistn.1

Compounds

† mistn.2

† mistn.3

mistn.4

mistv.

mistn.¹

† mistn.²

† mistn.³

mistn.⁴