mist

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   become covered with mist

   The windshield misted over

2. 2
   noun

   Water or other liquid finely suspended in air. (Compare fog, haze.)

   It was difficult to see through the morning mist.

3. 3
   noun

   A layer of fine droplets or particles.

   There was an oily mist on the lens.

4. 4
   noun

   Anything that dims, darkens, or hinders vision.

   His passion cast a mist before his sense.

5. 5
   verb

   To form mist.

   It's misting this morning.

6. 6
   verb

   To spray fine droplets on, particularly of water.

   I mist my tropical plants every morning.

7. 7
   verb

   To rain in very fine droplets.

   ... it's misting outside. When it mists outside it's half fog and half rain.

8. 8
   verb

   To cover with a mist.

   The lens was misted.

Etymology

The noun is from Middle English mist, from Old English mist (“mist; darkness; dimness (of eyesight)”), from Proto-Germanic *mihstaz (“mist, fog”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃migʰstos, from the root *h₃meygʰ- (“cloud, fog, drizzle”). Cognate with Scots mist (“mist, fog”), West Frisian mist (“mist”), Dutch mist (“mist”), Swedish mist (“mist, fog”), Icelandic mistur (“mist”), West Frisian miegelje (“to drizzle”), Dutch dialectal miggelen, miegelen (“to drizzle”), Lithuanian miglà (“fog”), Sanskrit मेघ (megha, “cloud”), Russian мгла (mgla, “fog, haze”). The verb is from Middle English misten, fro…