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Webster 1913 Edition

Miss

Miss

(mĭs)
,
Noun.
;
pl.
Misses
(mĭs′sĕz)
.
[Contr. fr.
mistress
.]
1.
A title of courtesy prefixed to the name of a girl or a woman who has not been married. See
Mistress
, 5.
☞ There is diversity of usage in the application of this title to two or more persons of the same name. We may write either the Miss Browns or the Misses Brown.
2.
A young unmarried woman or a girl;
as, she is a
miss
of sixteen
.
Gay vanity, with smiles and kisses,
Was busy ’mongst the maids and misses.
Cawthorn.
3.
A kept mistress. See
Mistress
, 4.
[Obs.]
Evelyn.
4.
(Card Playing)
In the game of three-card loo, an extra hand, dealt on the table, which may be substituted for the hand dealt to a player.

Miss

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Missed
(mĭst)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Missing
.]
[AS.
missan
; akin to D. & G.
missen
, OHG.
missan
, Icel.
missa
, Sw.
mista
, Dan.
miste
. √100. See
Mis-
, pref.]
1.
To fail of hitting, reaching, getting, finding, seeing, hearing, etc.;
as, to
miss
the mark one shoots at; to
miss
the train by being late; to
miss
opportunites of getting knowledge; to
miss
the point or meaning of something said.
When a man
misses
his great end, happiness, he will acknowledge he judged not right.
Locke.
2.
To omit; to fail to have or to do; to get without; to dispense with; – now seldom applied to persons.
She would never
miss
, one day,
A walk so fine, a sight so gay.
Prior.
We cannot
miss
him; he does make our fire,
Fetch in our wood.
Shakespeare
3.
To discover the absence or omission of; to feel the want of; to mourn the loss of; to want;
as, to
miss
an absent loved one
.
Shak.
Neither
missed
we anything . . . Nothing was
missed
of all that pertained unto him.
1 Sam. xxv. 15, 21.
What by me thou hast lost, thou least shalt
miss
.
Milton.
To miss stays
.
(Naut.)
See under
Stay
.

Miss

(mĭs)
,
Verb.
I.
1.
To fail to hit; to fly wide; to deviate from the true direction.
Men observe when things hit, and not when they
miss
.
Bacon.
Flying bullets now,
To execute his rage, appear too slow;
They
miss
, or sweep but common souls away.
Waller.
2.
To fail to obtain, learn, or find; – with of.
Upon the least reflection, we can not
miss
of them.
Atterbury.
3.
To go wrong; to err.
[Obs.]
Amongst the angels, a whole legion
Of wicked sprites did fall from happy bliss;
What wonder then if one, of women all, did
miss
?
Spenser.
4.
To be absent, deficient, or wanting.
[Obs.]
See
Missing
,
Adj.
What here shall
miss
, our toil shall strive to mend.
Shakespeare

Miss

,
Noun.
1.
The act of missing; failure to hit, reach, find, obtain, etc.
2.
Loss; want; felt absence.
[Obs.]
There will be no great
miss
of those which are lost.
Locke.
3.
Mistake; error; fault.
Shak.
He did without any great
miss
in the hardest points of grammar.
Ascham.
4.
Harm from mistake.
[Obs.]
Spenser.

Webster 1828 Edition

Miss

MISS

, n.
1.
The title of a young woman or girl; as little masters and misses.
2.
A kept mistress; a prostitute retained; a concubine.

MISS

,
Verb.
T.
[L. mitto, misi; omitto, omisi.]
1.
To fail in aim; to fail of reaching the object; not to hit; as, to miss the mark; to miss the object intended.
2.
To fail of finding the right way; to err in attempting to find; as, to miss the way or the road.
3.
To fail of obtaining.
Orgalus feared nothing but to miss Parthenia.
4.
To learn or discover that something is wanting, or not where it was supposed to be; as, to miss one's snuff-box; I missed the first volume of Livy.
Neither missed we any thing--. Nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. 1 Sam.25.
5.
To be without; as, we cannot miss him.
6.
To omit; to pass by; to go without; to fail to have; as, to miss a meal of victuals.
She would never miss one day
A walk so fine, a sight so gay.
7.
To perceive the want of.
What by me thou hast lost, thou least shalt miss,
He who has a firm sincere friend, may want all the rest without missing them.
8.
To fail of seeing or finding.

MISS

,
Verb.
I.
To fail to hit; to fly wide; to deviate from the true direction.
Flying bullets now,
To execute his rage, appear too slow;
They miss, or sweep but common souls away.
1.
Not to succeed; to fail.
Men observe when things hit, and not when they miss--
2.
To fail; to miscarry, as by accident.
The invention all admired, and each, how he
To be the inventor missed.
3.
To fail to obtain, learn or find; with of.
On the least reflection, we can miss of them.
4.
To fail; to mistake.

MISS

,
Noun.
Loss; want.
There will be no great miss of those which are lost.
1.
Mistake; error.
He did without any great miss in the hardest points of grammar. [Little used.]
2.
Harm from mistake.

Definition 2024

Miss

Miss

See also: miss, miß, Miß, miss-, miß-, and Miss.

English

Noun

Miss ‎(plural Misses or Mlles)

  1. Form of address for an unmarried woman.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 6, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      She was so mad she wouldn't speak to me for quite a spell, but at last I coaxed her into going up to Miss Emmeline's room and fetching down a tintype of the missing Deacon man.
  2. Form of address for a teacher or a waitress.
    Excuse me Miss, Donny's been pinching my pencils again.‎

Usage notes

  • When referring to people with the same name, either of two forms may be used: Misses Brown or Miss Browns.

Coordinate terms

Translations

Derived terms

Anagrams

German

Alternative forms

Noun

Miss f ‎(genitive Miss, plural Misses)

  1. title for a beauty queen

Derived terms

  • Misswahl ‎(“beauty contest”)

miss

miss

See also: Miss, miß, Miß, miss-, miß-, and Miss.

English

Verb

miss ‎(third-person singular simple present misses, present participle missing, simple past and past participle missed)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To fail to hit.
    I missed the target.
    I tried to kick the ball, but missed.
    • Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
      Men observe when things hit, and not when they miss.
    • Edmund Waller (1606-1687)
      Flying bullets now, / To execute his rage, appear too slow; / They miss, or sweep but common souls away.
  2. (transitive) To fail to achieve or attain.
    to miss an opportunity
    • John Locke (1632-1705)
      When a man misses his great end, happiness, he will acknowledge he judged not right.
  3. (transitive) To feel the absence of someone or something, sometimes with regret.
    I miss you! Come home soon!
    • John Milton (1608-1674)
      What by me thou hast lost, thou least shalt miss.
    • 1909, Archibald Marshall, The Squire's Daughter, chapterI:
      The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits. He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. Nobody would miss them, he explained.
  4. (transitive) To fail to understand or have a shortcoming of perception.
    miss the joke
  5. (transitive) To fail to attend.
    Joe missed the meeting this morning.
  6. (transitive) To be late for something (a means of transportation, a deadline, etc.).
    I missed the plane!
  7. (poker, said of a card) To fail to help the hand of a player.
    Player A: J7. Player B: Q6. Table: 283. The flop missed both players!
  8. (sports) To fail to score (a goal).
    • 2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport:
      Georgia, ranked 16th in the world, dominated the breakdown before half-time and forced England into a host of infringements, but fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili missed three penalties.
  9. (intransitive, obsolete) To go wrong; to err.
    • Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)
      Amongst the angels, a whole legion / Of wicked sprites did fall from happy bliss; / What wonder then if one, of women all, did miss?
  10. (intransitive, obsolete) To be absent, deficient, or wanting.
Usage notes
  • This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

miss ‎(plural misses)

  1. A failure to hit.
  2. A failure to obtain or accomplish.
  3. An act of avoidance (used with the verb give).
    I think I’ll give the meeting a miss.
  4. (computing) The situation where an item is not found in a cache and therefore needs to be explicitly loaded.
Translations

Etymology 2

From mistress.

Alternative forms

Noun

miss ‎(countable and uncountable, plural misses)

  1. A title of respect for a young woman (usually unmarried) with or without a name used.
    You may sit here, miss.
    You may sit here, Miss Jones.
  2. An unmarried woman; a girl.
    • Cawthorn
      Gay vanity, with smiles and kisses, / Was busy 'mongst the maids and misses.
  3. A kept woman; a mistress.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Evelyn to this entry?)
  4. (card games) In the game of three-card loo, an extra hand, dealt on the table, which may be substituted for the hand dealt to a player.

Coordinate terms

Related terms
Translations

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mɪs/

Etymology

From English miss.

Noun

miss f ‎(plural missen, diminutive missje n)

  1. A winner of a beauty contest.
    Annelien Coorevits was Miss België in 2007.
    Annelien Coorevits was Miss Belgium in 2007.
  2. A beauty.
  3. A girl with a high self-esteem.
    Dat is nogal een miss, hoor.
    She has some air.

German

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mɪs/
  • Rhymes: -ɪs

Verb

miss

  1. second-person singular imperative of messen

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *missą, *missijaz, *missō ‎(“loss, want”), from Proto-Indo-European *meit- ‎(“to change, replace”). Cognate with Old Norse missir, missa ‎(“a loss”).

Noun

miss n

  1. loss; absence

Declension

Related terms

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowing from English miss.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mis/
  • Homophone: mis

Noun

miss f ‎(plural misses)

  1. beauty queen

References

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

miss c

  1. A failure to hit.
  2. A mistake.
  3. (rare) A beauty; a winner of a beauty contest.
    Miss Hawaii gick vidare och vann Miss America-tävlingen
    Miss Hawaii went on to win the Miss America contest

Synonyms

  • (failure to hit): bom
  • (mistake): misstag
  • (beauty): skönhetsmiss

Declension

Inflection of miss 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative miss missen missar missarna
Genitive miss missens missars missarnas

Pronunciation

  • enPR: mĭs, IPA(key): /mɪs/
    Rhymes: -ɪs

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