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mist Definition

mist (mist)

noun

  1. a large mass of water vapor at or just above the earth's surface resembling a fog, but less dense
  2. a thin film of moisture condensed on a surface in droplets
    1. a cloud of dust, smoke, gas, etc.
    2. a fine spray, as of medication or perfume
  4. a cloudiness or film before the eyes, dimming or blurring the vision through a mist of tears
  5. anything that dims or obscures the understanding, memory, etc.

Etymology: ME < OE, darkness, mist, akin to ON mistr, dark weather < IE base *meigh-, to blink, be dim > Sans *mēghá-, cloud

transitive verb

  1. to make misty; dim or obscure as with a mist
  2. to spray the leaves of (a house plant) with water from a mister

intransitive verb

to be or become misty

mist Synonyms

mist

n.

drizzle, spray, haze, fog, smog, vapor, cloud, film, gauze, fine rain, mizzle*; see also fog 1, haze.

mist applies to a visible atmospheric vapor of rather fine density that blurs the vision; haze suggests a thin dispersion of smoke, dust, moisture, etc. that makes objects indistinct; fog suggests a greater density of moisture particles than mist, sometimes suggesting a thickness impenetrable by the vision; smog is applied to a low-lying, perceptible layer of polluted air or to a mixture of fog and smoke sometimes appearing in industrial centers: the first three terms are also used figuratively lost in the mists of the past, a troublesome haze of confusion, in a fog of doubt

mist Synonyms

mist

v.

shower, drizzle, fog; see mizzle, rain.

mist Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • pierce: From the far side of the Gipping valley you can see this one and two others, piercing the soft harvest mist in autumn.
  • swirl: At night, swirling mist reveals glimpses of its shadowy past.
  • disperse: A light breeze had dispersed the mist and there was a full moon, casting chill shadows of himself and his still companion.

Adjective modifier

  • swirling: On the platform, between belches, the swirling mist clears a little to reveal a Home Guard leader.
  • thick: I glanced through the thick mist, trying to see.
  • low-lying: Lancing Clump could just about be seen above the low-lying mist.
  • dense: This was filled with a dense, white mist.
  • gray: It took the form of a strange gray mist creeping across the room from the main entrance.
  • damp: At three o'clock this morning in a damp, chill mist all hands were roused to work.

Modifies a noun

  • droplet: The higher mist droplets were noticeably smaller than those nearer the ground.
  • spray: If you spray a car with special equipment ( pressure washer ) you will get a fine mist spray.
  • net: Eight 18m mist nets are erected, four of them in an area of reedbed and four in an area of scrub.
  • patch: There will be good sells of sunshine with morning mist patches soon clearing away.

Noun used with modifier

  • morning: The village is magic in morning mist, flakes of snow outside our window.
  • autumn: In my autumn groin mist and rain and river are indistinguishable.
  • freezing: Snowfall is greater than on Mounts Kenya and Kilimanjaro and ice rime forms in freezing mists on the mountains.
  • sea: Seeing France loom out of the sea mist was the first sight of land for about 6 weeks.
  • spray: A spray mist may still be needed until all is quiet in the house.

Preposition: in

  • valley: THE MIST in the valley is the color of thin smoke.

Preposition: of

  • antiquity: They will be lost in the mists of antiquity.
mist Quotes

She was cut off fromthe past and therefore did not live in the present. But suddenly, as she stood close against a pine tree and breathed in its sharp, bitter scent, a clear space opened to her childhood, as though a wind had sprung fromthesea, clearing a mist.It wasnot a memory from the past, it was the past itself, as alive, as real; and she knew that she and the child of forty years ago were the same person.

—Thomas, D(onald) M(itchell)

   You stars that reigned at my nativity, Whose influence hath allotted death and hell, Now draw up Faustus like a foggy mist, Into the entrails of yon labouring cloud, That when you vomit forth into the air, My limbs may issue from your smoky mouths, So that my soul may but ascend to heaven.

—Marlowe, Christopher

  Sob, heavy world, Sob as you spin Mantled in mist, remote from the happy.

—Auden,W(ystan) H(ugh)

But the majestic river floated on, Out of the mist and hum of that low land, Into the frosty starlight.

—Arnold, Matthew

Unless we change our ways and our direction, our greatness as a nation will soon be a footnote in the history books, a distant memory of an offshore island, lost in the mist of time like Camelot, remembered kindly for its noble past.

—Thatcher, Margaret HildaThatcher, Baroness

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking, And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.

—Masefield,John Edward

Theyare sped; And when they list, their lean and flashy songs 578 Grate on their scrannel Pipes of wretched straw, The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, But swollen with wind, and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread, Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw Daily devours apace, and nothing said, But that two-handed engine at the door, Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.

—Milton,John

   O pure of heart! thou need'st not ask of me What this strong music in the soul may be! What, and wherein it doth exist, This light, this glory, this fair luminous mist, This beautiful and beauty-making power.

—Coleridge, Samuel Taylor

Browse dictionary entries near mist

  1. ‹ missy
  2. ‹ missus
  3. ‹ misstep
  4. ‹ misstatement
  5. ‹ misstate
  6. ‹ misspent
  7. ‹ misspend
  8. ‹ misspelling
  9. ‹ misspell
  10. ‹ misspeak
  1. mistake ›
  2. mistaken ›
  3. mistakenly ›
  4. Mistassini ›
  5. mister ›
  6. misterioso ›
  7. misterm ›
  8. mistflower ›
  9. misthink ›
  10. Misti ›