miseryn.
/ˈmɪz(ə)ri/, U.S. /ˈmɪz(ə)ri/ 1. † b. An abject condition. Obsolete.† c. poetic. Misery personified. Obsolete.
a. A condition of external unhappiness, discomfort, or distress; wretchedness of outward circumstances; distress caused by privation or poverty.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > wretchedness > [noun]
uselldomc1175
yomernessc1250
caitifty1340
miseryc1375
deploration1490
caitifdoma1500
villainya1571
deplorableness1649
sorriness1668
squalor1860
the world > action or operation > adversity > [noun] > tribulation, trouble, or affliction > state of misery
wretchhead1154
uselldomc1175
wretchdom?c1225
yomernessc1250
wan-siðc1275
werea1300
wretchedheada1300
cursedness1303
wrechea1325
wretchnessa1330
wretchednessa1340
caitifty1340
miseryc1375
caitifhedea1400
languora1400
caitifnessc1400
deploration1490
caitifdoma1500
pitya1500
unkindness1502
woefulnessa1513
miserability1559
villainya1571
ungraciousness1578
miserableness1613
deplorableness1649
misère1791
dismals1829
unblessedness1836
c1375 G. Chaucer Monk's Tale 3196 Now artow Sathanas, that mayst nat twynne Out of miserie in which thou art falle.
a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) iv. 272 Wrecche of wrecches, Out of honour falle Into miserie.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 72 Into grete poverte, miseri and wrecchednesse.
a1500 Eng. Conquest Ireland (Rawl.) (1896) 43 Shew hym the mesury that thay Sufferid for his Sake.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Esdras ii. 17 Ye se the myserye yt we are in, how Ierusalem lyeth wayst.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) ii. ii. 39 Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellowes.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 810 But say That Death be not one stroak,..but endless miserie . View more context for this quotation
1705 J. Addison Remarks Italy 5 The extream Misery and Poverty that are in most of the Italian Governments.
1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Devereux I. i. i. 4 Early marriages were misery; imprudent marriages idiotism.
1832 W. Macgillivray Trav. & Researches A. von Humboldt xix. 273 The converts live in great poverty, and their misery is augmented by prodigious swarms of mosquitoes.
1886 J. Ruskin Præterita I. xii. 432 The misery of unaided poverty.
1934 J. B. Priestley Eng. Journey vii. 210 For a man of the Potteries, it must be either work or misery.
1987 J. Uglow George Eliot v. 88 Despite their present misery Dempster and Janet were happy once.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > paltry, mean, or contemptible > condition
misery1607
1607 T. Dekker Knights Conjuring sig. L1 Into so lowe a miserie (if not contempt,) is the sacred Arte of Poesie falne [etc.].
ΚΠ
1751 T. Gray Elegy 11 He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a Tear.
1799 W. Cowper Castaway 59 But misery still delights to trace Its semblance in another's case.
2. As a count noun: a distressing condition, state, or circumstance; a cause or source of wretchedness. Frequently in plural.to put (a person or animal) out of (his or her) misery: see to put out of —— 2a at put v. Phrasal verbs 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > misery > [noun] > cause or source of misery
wretchnessa1330
wretchedness1382
misery1509
1509 J. Fisher Mornynge Remembraunce Countesse of Rychemonde (de Worde) sig. Biv v After yt he [sc. Lazarus] was restored to ye myseryes of this lyfe agayne, he neuer lough.
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Buriall f. xxiiii*v The miseries of this wretched world.
1572 J. Higgins Huloets Dict. (rev. ed.) (at cited word) It is a great mysery to be very beautifull.
1615 E. Howes Stow's Annales (new ed.) Pref. ⁋5 What a hellish misery it is to have vnreconciliable warres in one small kingdome.
1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed iii. xvi. 398 The misery is, divers of them have fallen to frequent their Superstitions and Idolatries.
1788 W. Cowper Negro's Compl. 43 By the miseries that we tasted, Crossing in your barks the main.
1843 G. Borrow Bible in Spain I. vii. 122 He was going to expose himself to inconceivable miseries and hardships.
1878 T. J. Lucas Camp Life & Sport 32 Dr. Collis Browne, now well-known as the inventor of chlorodyne, that universal soother of miseries, a valuable medicine, which has indeed won him a European reputation.
1902 A. M. Fairbairn Philos. Christian Relig. i. iv. 167 The miseries that follow a lustful will.
1932 E. Wharton Let. (1988) 556 I didn't go after all, being held up by the ‘suites de la grippe’ in the shape of such a misery of fatigue that I had to stay in Paris and be given piqres.
1978 H. Carpenter Inklings (1981) iii. iii. 132 He's one of those people who really feels the miseries of the world, and the war is making him terribly gloomy.
3.
a. Great sorrow or mental distress; a miserable or wretched state of mind; a condition characterized by a feeling of extreme unhappiness.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > misery > [noun]
unselthc888
ermtheOE
unselea1023
wellawayOE
wretchhead1154
wandrethc1175
woec1175
wanea1200
wretchdom?c1225
yomernessc1250
balec1275
un-i-selec1275
wan-siðc1275
unseelinessa1300
wretchedheada1300
cursedness1303
wretcheddomc1320
wrechea1325
wretchnessa1330
tribulationc1330
wretchednessa1340
caitifty1340
meeknessa1382
unwealsomeness1382
infelicityc1384
caitifhedea1400
ill liking?a1400
sorea1400
ungleea1400
unweala1400
caitifnessc1400
deploration1490
caitifdoma1500
woefulnessa1513
misery1527
miserity1533
mishappinessa1542
unwealfulnessa1555
tribulance1575
miserableness1613
agony1621
desolatenessa1626
unblissa1628
unhappiness1722
misère1791
shadow1855
valley1882
miz1918
1527 Earl of Northumberland Let. 3 Aug. in Regulations & Establishm. Househ. Earl of Northumberland (1905) 414 That fals Worm shall be broth [brought] to the messery and carffulness that I am in.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Job iii. 20 Wherfore is the light geuen, to him that is in mysery? and life vnto them that haue heuy hertes?
c1600 Returne fr. Parnassus (1606) i. i. 472 Thanks, gentle nimphes, for this sweete harmonie! Soe musick yealdes some ease to miserie.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ii. 563 Of good and evil much they argu'd then, Of happiness and final misery . View more context for this quotation
1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. iii. 52 It is acknowledged that Rage, Envy, Resentment, are in themselves meer Misery.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Two Voices in Poems (new ed.) II. 116 Thou art so full of misery, Were it not better not to be?
1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin II. xxxiv. 211 It seemed as if I had misery enough in my one heart to sink the city.
1910 E. M. Forster Howards End xviii. 156 Getting away from that house may be hard, but it is nothing to the misery that we all went through getting you into it.
1990 S. Maitland Three Times Table (1991) ii. ii. 141 The fourteen years since she had moved into the Bayswater house had not been years of unremitting misery and depression.
b. colloquial. In plural. With the. A fit or period of peevishness or depression; a bout of dejection.
ΚΠ
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §353/1 Love,..the miseries.
1951 E. Partridge Dict. Slang (ed. 4) 1110/1 Get the miseries, to be peevish.
1967 P. Bailey At Jerusalem ii. 101 ‘You look as if you have the miseries.’ ‘My expression, I suppose.’
1994 C. Grant X-Files: Goblins i. 4 Every time the weather sucks, you get the miseries, drink too much and pass out, and then I gotta lug your sorry ass to that sorry hole you call a house.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > retaining > niggardliness or meanness > [noun] > miserliness
chincheryc1405
muckeringc1430
gnedeshipc1480
wretchedness1488
miserableness1522
misery1531
snudging1553
sordidity1584
snudgery1599
miserliness1645
nabalism1853
miserhood1867
miserdom1887
1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour iii. xxi. sig. fivv This was but miserye and wretched nygardeshippe in a man of suche honour.
1579–80 T. North tr. Galba in Plutarch Lives (1595) 1107 His meane and simple ordinary of dyet..was imputed misery and niggardlines in him.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. iii. 131 The Senate right sparingly (such was their miserie), decreed..one daies thanksgiving..and no more.
1624 H. Wotton Elements Archit. 66 A little misery in the Premises, may easily breed some absurdity of greater charge in the Conclusion.
5. concrete.
a. A wretched person or place.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > [noun] > gloomy quality > gloomy place
misery1790
shadowland1923
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > [noun] > dejected or gloomy person
unhappy hooka1529
drooper1577
disconsolate1631
desponder1689
mope1693
moper1721
despondent1812
misery1888
crape-hanger1921
Dismal Desmond1926
Dismal Jimmy1927
crêpe-hanger1930
Eeyore1932
1790 F. Burney Diary Dec. (1842) V. 181 I am sure she would gladly have confined us both in the Bastile, had England such a misery.
1854 Poultry Chron. 1 41 Never mind—the little misery [sc. a chicken] will never do any good.
1888 Lady 25 Oct. 374/2 ‘Small street Arabs,’ she answered. ‘The little miseries out of the gutters’.
1929 T. E. Lawrence Let. 30 Dec. (1938) 674 You say the little misery is only a few weeks old.
b. colloquial. A gloomy, peevish, or self-pitying person, esp. someone who is constantly disgruntled or depressed; a killjoy. Frequently used as a term of (mock) abuse. Cf. misery guts n. at Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > [noun] > depressing quality > depressing thing, person, or circumstances
cloudc1430
palla1450
melancholya1475
downdraughta1681
Job's comforter1738
damper1748
killjoy1776
wet blanket1810
down-drag1814
chill1821
dismals1829
shadow1855
down1856
a skeleton at the feast (or banquet)1857
wet blanket1857
depressor1868
dampener1887
sorry-go-round1898
wet smack1927
bringdown1935
droopy drawers1939
big chill1943
party pooper1947
misery1951
party poop1951
grinch1966
downer1969
1951 E. Partridge Dict. Slang (ed. 4) 1110/1 Misery, be a, to be peevish; be a peevish person: lower classes', esp. Cockneys', coll.: from ca.1880.
1964 J. Braidwood in G. B. Adams et al. Ulster Dial. 86 You misery.
1981 W. Russell Educating Rita ii. i. 39 You can be a real misery sometimes, can't y'?
1983 A. Mason Illusionist iii. 97 That old Hedekiah who wouldn't let us rent his orchard..he'll get what's coming to him, the old misery.
1992 Independent 14 Feb. 17/1 That Macbeth, for instance, what a misery. Why doesn't he just get a grip on himself?
6. regional. Bodily pain or discomfort (specific or general); an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > [noun]
sorec825
acheeOE
wrakeOE
trayOE
woe?a1200
pinec1200
sorrowc1225
teenc1225
grievousness1303
dolec1320
balea1325
painc1330
warkingc1340
dolour?c1370
sufferance1422
offencea1425
angerc1440
sufferingc1450
penalty?1462
penality1496
grief1509
stress1533
sufferance1597
somatalgia1607
suffering1609
tort1632
miserya1825
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Misery, acute pain in any part of the body. ‘Misery in the head’, means a violent head-ache.
1833 J. Hall Legends of West 82 You never seed sich a poor afflicted crittur as I be, with the misery in my tooth.
1839 R. M. Bird Robin Day ii. 29 Can he cure a misery in the tooth? demanded another.
1867 H. Latham Black & White 38 Massa, I have such a misery in my back.
1946 L. Lenski Blue Ridge Billy viii. 110 Lizy's took bad with a misery in her stomach.
1972 F. Mason Roads to Liberty 65 He hung onto a few shillings in case he got took with a misery and needed a mess of snake oil.
7. Cards. colloquial = misère n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > whist > [noun] > actions or tactics > declaration in solo
misère1814
misery1843
abondance1888
abundance1888
solo1898
1843 J. H. Greene Expos. Arts Gambling 22 One and all who may be trying to make their ‘misery’, will use the same signs, and if there should be any chance of winning by the use of signs, they are sure to do it.
1981 G. Brandreth Everyman's Indoor Games 91 When the bid is misery, the card that is led determines the trump suit.
Phrases
P1. Chiefly U.S. [Compare post-classical Latin gaudium est miseris socios habuisse penarum (c1350).] misery loves company: a miserable person is comforted by the unhappiness of others.
ΚΠ
a1349 R. Rolle Meditations on Passion in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1895) I. 101 It is solace to haue companie in peyne.
1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 33 In miserie Euphues it is a great comfort to haue a companion.
1620 T. Shelton tr. M. de Cervantes Don Quixote ii. xiii. 78 If that which is commonly spoken be true, that to haue companions in misery is a lightner of it, you may comfort me.]
1775 T. Gilbert Let. 4 May in W. B. Clark et al. Naval Documents Amer. Revol. (1964) I. 279 All my Letters are inter septed by those Rebels who want Every one to be kept in Dark like themselves. (Misery Loves Company).
1821 A. Wetmore Pedlar ii. i. 11 I'm glad to see you, stranger—misery loves company.
1880 Catholic World Dec. 292 It must be a very peculiar gratification, on the principle that ‘misery loves company’ and exile is rendered sweet by the number of the exiled.
1904 Collier's 7 May 16/1 Misery loves company, perhaps, but society at large does not reciprocate the affection.
1998 B. Kingsolver Poisonwood Bible (1999) v. 477 I figured Leah and I could tell each other our troubles, since misery loves company, even though she has a husband that is still alive at least.
P2. Chiefly poetic. As an exclamation or in exclamatory phrases, expressing self-pity, distress, or general wretchedness, as misery me!
ΚΠ
c1786 Young in T. Jefferson Thoughts on Eng. Prosody in Writings (1903) XVIII. 424 What is this world? thy school! Oh! misery! Our only lesson is to learn to suffer.
1798 W. Wordsworth Thorn vi, in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 121 To herself she cries, ‘Oh misery! oh misery! Oh woe is me! oh misery!’
1888 W. S. Gilbert Yeomen of Guard ii. 48 Misery me, lackadaydee! He sipped no sup and he craved no crumb, As he sighed for the love of a ladye!
1968 N. Marsh Clutch of Constables i. 15 ‘O misery, misery, misery me,’ she wrote with enormous relish.
1991 A. Chaudhuri Strange & Sublime Addr. (1992) x. 83 When it rained, she came in. ‘Hai hai! O misery!’ she exclaimed.
P3. to make (someone's) life a misery: to upset or annoy someone continually.
ΚΠ
1933 M. Lowry Ultramarine 205 You've been doing your level best to make life a misery to me since we left home.]
1954 I. Murdoch Under Net xvii. 231 The lives of these women, already far advanced, were made a misery, on the one hand by the Matron, who treated them with unremitting despotism, and on the other by the nurses who repaid them with continual veiled mockery.
1968 Daily Tel. 29 Nov. (Colour Suppl.) 66/4 Those scavenging Italian street photographers whose sole purpose appears to be to make every film celebrity's life a misery.
1989 F. Saunders-Veness Oh! Sister (BNC) 46 A certain section of the nation had tried to make Winston's life a misery by begging for a second front.
Compounds
C1. General attributive, instrumental, and objective.
ΚΠ
1654 Paynims Songs 3 Therefore Ile nothing else set on their Misery-score But up to some strange Stars again Ile fly.
1803 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1956) II. 985 You must not wonder, that Misery is a Misery-maker.
1813 P. B. Shelley Queen Mab vi. 79 Thou framedst A tale..to glut Thy misery-thirsting soul.
a1832 J. Bentham Fragm. on Govt. Pref. to ed. 2, in Wks. (1843) I. 241/1 The acquirements, of the pre-eminent lawyer..were altogether unknown, to the miserable and misery-propagating ascetic.
1865 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend I. ii. xiv. 289 Perverted uses of the misery-making money.
1896 Daily Tel. 10 Mar. 6/7 The misery-stricken people of Italy.
1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience vi. 135 The sanguine and healthy-minded live habitually on the sunny side of their misery-line.
1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience v. 135 We might speak of a ‘pain-threshold’, a ‘fear-threshold’, a ‘misery-threshold’.
1987 Spectator 4 July 19/3 They have developed a positive taste for misery-mongering and expect the rest of us to share it.
1991 W. P. Kinsella Box Socials ii. vii. 103 A disconsolate face of Jesus in brown wool, a couple of sky-blue tears, the same colour as His eyes, rolling down His misery-ridden face.
C2.
misery guts n. colloquial a miserable or irritable person.
ΚΠ
1968 S. Gore Holy Smoke 47 Old misery guts takes a gink at Shad, Mesh and Ab.
1973 D. Potter Hide & Seek iv. 99 ‘What's the matter with you, misery guts?’ asked the other woman, obscurely offended. ‘Piss off, Marlene,’ the girl replied.
1989 Outdoor Action July 44/1 It's little wonder though that some kids are such misery guts when they're out in an old pair of wellies, their jeans and a cagoule with more in common with a colander than a waterproof.
misery index n. Economics (originally and chiefly U.S.) an informal measure of the state of an economy obtained from the sum of the rate of inflation and the unemployment statistics, devised by American economist Arthur Okun (1928–80).
ΚΠ
1977 C. E. Mueller in Antitrust Law & Econ. Rev. 8 (title) Inflation and unemployment: the ‘misery’ index.
1992 K. Pilbeam Internat. Finance 342 We assume that the pay-off to each economy is measured by a ‘misery-index’—the misery index is simply the sum of an economy's inflation and unemployment rates... The aim of economic policy will be to minimise an economy's misery index.
misery whip n. North American colloquial a whipsaw.
ΚΠ
1930 G. Williams Logger-talk 26 Misery whip, a cross cut saw.
1977 S. Jones Oregon Folklore 14 In the case of loggers, not only do they know what a crosscut saw is.., they also know that same item as a misery whip or a Swede's fiddle.
1995 Vancouver Sun 6 Sept. a11 There were Coolie Tongs and misery whips, Gilchrist jacks and pickeroos, tools I hadn't seen since my dad hand-felled spruce for Muir Brothers Saw Mill when I was the same age as my little girl.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.c1375- to keep one's options open
- to keep one's own
- to keep one's own counsel
- to keep one's pants on
- to keep one's peace
- to keep one's pecker up
- to keep one's place
- to keep one's powder dry
- to keep one's put good
- to keep one's residence
- to keep one's room
- to keep one's seat
- to keep one's silence
- to keep one's standing
- to keep one's state
- to keep one's station
- to keep one's temper
- to keep one's terms
- to keep one's the wind
- to keep one's threap
- to keep one's toe in one's pump
- to keep one's tongue
- to keep one's top eye open
- to keep one's touch
- to keep one's trap shut