mizzle
UK /ˈmɪzl/ · US /ˈmɪzəl/ verb, noun
Forms mizzles mizzling mizzled
- verb (intransitive, UK, Canada, US, chiefly dialectal) To rain in very fine drops.
- noun (UK, chiefly dialectal) Misty rain; drizzle.
- noun A mist; a fine spray; a spattering.
- verb (chiefly UK) To abscond, scram, flee.
- verb (intransitive) To yield.
- verb (transitive) To muddle or confuse. (Probably from a misreading of past tense/participle misled.)
Synonyms
Etymology
From Late Middle English misellen (“to drizzle”), cognate with Low German miseln, musseln (“to mizzle”), Dutch miezelen (“to drizzle, rain gently”). Of obscure origin, possibly a frequentative related to the base of mist; or, related to Middle Low German mes (“urine”), Middle Dutch mes, mis (“urine”), both from Old Saxon mehs (“urine”), from Proto-Germanic *mihstuz, *mihstaz, *mihsk- (“urine”), from *mīganą (“to urinate”), from Proto-Indo-European *meiǵʰ-, *omeiǵʰ- (“to urinate”). Compare also English micturate (“to urinate”), Old Frisian mese (“urine”), Low German miegen (“to urinate”), Dutch mijgen (“to urinate”), Danish mige (“to urinate”).
Unknown. Perhaps from Shelta mi(e)sli (“go”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To rain in very fine drops. Spenser.
- verb To take one's self off; to go. [Slang]
- noun Mist; fine rain.
Etymology [See Misle, and cf. Mistle.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “mizzle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details