mist

Etymology 1

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”).

noun

1. (countable, uncountable) Water or other liquid finely suspended in air. (Compare fog, haze.)
   It was difficult to see through the morning mist.
2. (countable) A layer of fine droplets or particles.
   There was an oily mist on the lens.
3. (figurative) Anything that dims, darkens, or hinders vision.

verb

1. To form mist.
   It's misting this morning.
2. To spray fine droplets on, particularly of water.
   I mist my tropical plants every morning.
3. To cover with a mist.
   The lens was misted.
4. (of the eyes) To be covered by tears.
   My eyes misted when I remembered what had happened.
5. (printing, of ink) To disperse into a mist, accompanying operation of equipment at high speeds.

Etymology 2

verb

1. (obsolete) past of miss