haze

Etymology 1

* The earliest instances are of the latter part of the 17th century. * Possibly back-formation from hazy. * Compare Old Norse höss (“grey”), akin to Old English hasu (“gray”). Origin unknown; there is nothing to connect the word with Old English hasu, haso (“gray”).

noun

1. Very fine solid particles (smoke, dust) or liquid droplets (moisture) suspended in the air, slightly limiting visibility. (Compare fog, mist.)
   Our hopes, however, soon vanished; for before eight o'clock, the serenity of the sky was changed into a thick haze, accompanied with rain. 1772 December, James Cook, chapter 2, in A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Around the World, volume 1
   A blue haze, half dust, half mist, touched the long valley with mystery. 1895, H.G. Wells, The Cone
   Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. 2013-06-29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29
2. A reduction of transparency of a clear gas or liquid.
3. An analogous dullness on a surface that is ideally highly reflective or transparent.
   The soap left a persistent haze on the drinking glasses.
   The furniture has a haze, possibly from some kind of wax.
4. (figurative) Any state suggestive of haze in the atmosphere, such as mental confusion or vagueness of memory.
   In my haze of alcohol, I thought for one crazy instant that he had plumbed my secret. 1957, Daphne du Maurier, The Scapegoat, page 218
   But these tasks are difficult for the recent history of the form, since our perceptions are clouded by the haze of historical proximity. 1994, Michael Thomas Roeder, A History of the Concerto, page 312
   Because he chose to be "a citizen of somewhere else," we glimpse him now only "through the haze of memory." 2005, Dane Anthony Morrison, Nancy Lusignan Schultz, Salem: Place, Myth, and Memory, page 179
   I've spent years in a haze, trying to forget my past. Sakaar seemed like the best place to drink, and to forget... and to die, one day. 2017, Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, directed by Taika Waititi, Thor: Ragnarok, spoken by Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson)
5. (uncountable, engineering, packaging) The degree of cloudiness or turbidity in a clear glass or plastic, measured in percent.
   Haze is listed as a percent value and, typically, is about 1% for meat film. 1998, Leonard I. Nass, Charles A. Heiberger, Encyclopedia of PVC, page 318
6. (countable, brewing) Any substance causing turbidity in beer or wine.
   Various clarifying and fining agents are used in winemaking to remove hazes. 1985, Philip Jackisch, Modern Winemaking, page 69

verb

1. To be or become hazy, or thick with haze.
   Pyramids of clouds now fringed its edge, and the centre had hazed into a sandy mist. 1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 268

Etymology 2

Possibly from hawze (“terrify, frighten, confound”), from Middle French haser (“irritate, annoy”)

verb

1. (US, informal) To perform an unpleasant initiation ritual upon a usually non-consenting individual, especially freshmen to a closed community such as a college fraternity or military unit.
2. To oppress or harass by forcing to do hard and unnecessary work.
   […] when the young man whirled his horse, “hazed” Jupiter in circles and belaboured him with a rawhide quirt, […] He ceased his cavortings […] 1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter I, in The Understanding Heart
3. (transitive) In a rodeo, to assist the bulldogger by keeping (the steer) running in a straight line.
4. (transitive) To use aversive stimuli on (a wild animal, such as a bear) to encourage it to keep its distance from humans.
   Hazing a bear involves creating a "negative experience for a bear that seeks out human food or loses its natural avoidance of humans and developed areas," the release said. That involves using non-lethal rubber shotgun slugs, or rubber rounds and noise-deterrent rounds in sequence to scare bears away, according to the release. 18 July 2016, Annie Zak, “Brown bear seriously injured in 'hazing' attempt in Southeast Alaska”, in Anchorage Daily News