miss

name

1. Mississippi, as used in case citations.

noun

Etymology: From mistress.

1. A form of address, now used chiefly for an unmarried woman; used chiefly of girls before the mid-1700s, and thereafter used also of adult women without regard to marital status.

   “Mrs. Gardiner would be happy to see Miss March and Miss Josephine at a little dance on New-Year's-Eve.”

2. A form of address, now used chiefly for an unmarried woman; used chiefly of girls before the mid-1700s, and thereafter used also of adult women without regard to marital status.

   “These are the two young ladies that I wanted you to meet, Miss Jones and Miss Robinson.”

3. A form of address, now used chiefly for an unmarried woman; used chiefly of girls before the mid-1700s, and thereafter used also of adult women without regard to marital status.

   “The victim was named as Miss Jane Doe.”

4. A form of address, now used chiefly for an unmarried woman; used chiefly of girls before the mid-1700s, and thereafter used also of adult women without regard to marital status.

   “Excuse me Ma'am, will Miss Julia and Miss Emily be staying for tea?”

   “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.”

5. A form of address, now used chiefly for an unmarried woman; used chiefly of girls before the mid-1700s, and thereafter used also of adult women without regard to marital status.

   “Good morning, Miss. May I help you?”

6. A form of address for a female teacher or a waitress.

   “Excuse me, Miss, Donny's been pinching my pencils again.”

7. Used in title of the (female) winner of a beauty contest, or certain other types of contest, prefixing the country or other region that she represents, or the category of contest.

   “Ladies and gentlemen, please give a round of applause to our lovely new Miss Yorkshire!”

   “And I can now announce that this year's Miss Personality is ... Doris Miggins!”

8. Used in a mock title to point out some quality, or alleged quality, of a girl or woman.

   “Don't ask me, ask Miss know-it-all over there.”

verb

Etymology: Verb from Middle English missen, from Old English missan (“to miss, escape the notice of a person”), from Proto-West Germanic *missijan, from Proto-Germanic *missijaną (“to miss, go wrong, fail”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to change, exchange, trade”). Cognate with West Frisian misse (“to miss”), Dutch missen (“to miss”), German missen (“to miss”), Norwegian Bokmål and Danish miste (“to lose”), Swedish missa (“to miss”), Norwegian Nynorsk, Icelandic missa (“to lose”) and Latin mittere (“to send, let go”). Noun from Middle English misse, mis, from Old English miss (“loss, absence”), from Proto-West Germanic *miss, from Proto-Germanic *miss- (“loss”). Cognate with Scots miss (“a loss, want, cause of grief or mourning”), Middle High German misse, mis (“lack, missing, absence”), Icelandic missir (“loss”). Related also to Scots mis (“wrongdoing, sin, guilt”), Dutch mis (“misdeed, wrongdoing, mistake”), Middle Low German misse (“sin, wrong”).

1. To fail to hit, catch, grasp, etc.

   “I fired the gun, but the bullet missed the target.”

   “I tried to kick the ball, but missed.”

2. To avoid hitting.

   “The driver swerved and just managed to miss the chicken crossing the road.”

3. To fail to achieve or attain.

   “The company missed all its sales targets.”

   “When a man misses his great end, happiness, he will acknowledge he judged not right.”

4. To fail to experience, attend, partake, take advantage of, etc.

   “Joe missed the meeting this morning.”

   “I usually watch the Oscars Ceremonies, but I missed it this year.”

5. To avoid or escape.

   “The car just missed hitting a passer-by.”

   “We missed disaster by the skin of our teeth.”

6. To become aware of the loss or absence of; to feel the want or need of, sometimes with regret; to feel sadness at the absence of somebody or something.

   “I miss you! Come home soon!”

   “I miss going for walks along the beach.”

7. To fail to understand.

   “to miss the joke”

8. To fail to notice; to have a shortcoming of perception; overlook.

   “So I'm just going over my early notes, see if I missed anything.”

9. To be too late to connect with or meet something or someone (a means of transportation, a deadline, etc.).

   “I missed the plane!”

   “"Is Polly still here?" — "No, sorry, you've just missed her. She left a couple of minutes ago."”

10. To be wanting; to lack something that should be present (see also adjectival missing).

    “The car is missing essential features.”

    “This jigsaw is missing several pieces.”

11. To spare someone of something unwanted or undesirable.

    “Miss me with that nonsense!”

12. To fail to help the hand of a player.

    “Player A: J7. Player B: Q6. Table: 283. The flop missed both players!”

13. To fail to score (a goal).

    “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.”

14. To go wrong; to err.

    “Emongst the Angels, a whole legione / Of wicked Sprights did fall from happy blis; / What wonder then, if one of women all did mis?”

15. To be absent, deficient, or wanting.

    “What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.”