Word Direct Answers

What does "miss" mean?

Miss: 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.

Additional senses

  1. 2.A kept mistress. See Mistress, 4. [Obs.] Evelyn.
  2. 3.(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.
  3. 4.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.
  4. 5.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. Shak.
  5. 6.To discover the absence or omission of; to feel the want of; to mourn the loss of; to want. 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.
  6. 7.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.
  7. 8.To fail to obtain, learn, or find; -- with of. Upon the least reflection, we can not miss of them. Atterbury.
  8. 9.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.
  9. 10.To be absent, deficient, or wanting. [Obs.] See Missing, a. What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. Shak.
  10. 11.The act of missing; failure to hit, reach, find, obtain, etc.
  11. 12.Loss; want; felt absence. [Obs.] There will be no great miss of those which are lost. Locke.
  12. 13.Mistake; error; fault. Shak. He did without any great miss in the hardest points of grammar. Ascham.
  13. 14.Harm from mistake. [Obs.] Spenser.

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