mistn.1
/mɪst/, U.S. /mɪst/ I. Senses relating to a cloud of vapour.
1. † b. In proverbial (esp. similative) phrases. Obsolete.
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’.
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. 297v 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. † b. Chiefly poetic. With reference to death. Obsolete.
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. Siiiiv 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.
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 wht 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-exhaling adj. Obsolete rare† mist-impelling adj. Obsolete rare
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.
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.
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-hackle n. [ < mist n.1 + hackle n.1] poetic Obsolete a cloak or covering of mist.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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
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
/mɪst/, U.S. /mɪst/, South African English /mɪst/ South African.
1. = mis n.2 1.
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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.
/mɪst/, U.S. /mɪst/ 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. † b. transitive. To confuse or bewilder (a person, mental process, etc.). Obsolete.
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. F3v 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.
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. E5v 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).
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n.1eOE
n.2c1400n.3?a1425
n.41852
v.OE