mistyadj.1
/ˈmɪsti/, U.S. /ˈmɪsti/ I. Senses relating to mist or cloudiness, esp. as obscuring vision.
1.
a. Clouded by or covered with mist; accompanied by mist; consisting of or characterized by mist.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cloud > mist > [adjective]
mistyOE
nebulose?1440
roky1440
nubilousc1540
hazya1584
misting1584
vaporous1594
nebulous1597
rawky1601
claggy1621
misky1671
rooky1691
nubilose1730
mistful1733
smoky1769
rouky1808
hazed1840
OE (Northumbrian) Liturgical Texts (Durham Ritual) in A. H. Thompson & U. Lindelöf Rituale Ecclesiae Dunelmensis (1927) 18 Super montem caligosum leuate signum : ofer mor mistig uel ahefað becon.
OE Beowulf 162 Ac se æglæca ehtende wæs, deorc deaþscua, duguþe ond geogoþe, seomade ond syrede; sinnihte heold mistige moras.
a1350 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1911) 127 41 Eyr mysty whose syþ, Desturbaunce þat biþ.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Isa. xiii. 2 Vp on a mysti mounteyn rereþ vp a tokne.
a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) iii. 1060 For I have seyn, of a ful misty morwe, Folowen ful ofte a myriery someris day.
c1450 (?a1405) J. Lydgate Complaint Black Knight (Fairf.) 24 in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 383 When that the mysty vapour was a-goon, And clere and feyre was the morownyng.
a1475 J. Russell Bk. Nurture (Harl. 4011) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 178 Wheþur hit be feyre or foule, or mysty alle withe reyn.
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 13 I wold avise the to flee owte of this mystye tyme, which is full of pestilence.
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet iii. v. 10 And iocond Day Stands tiptoes on the mystie mountaine tops. View more context for this quotation
1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 157 The night being darke and mistie, and the Moone giuing no light.
1682 A. Wood Life & Times (1894) III. 29 Misty and rimy morning.
1740 S. Richardson Pamela I. 226 A dark misty Night, and coldish.
1817 C. Wolfe Burial Sir J. Moore in Edinb. Monthly Mag. June 278/1 By the struggling moon-beam's misty light.
1858 D. Masson Life Milton I. 720 The mistier north is forgotten, and he longs to make Florence his home.
1876 Ld. Tennyson Harold iii. ii. 89 Two young lovers in winter weather, None to guide them, Walk'd at night on the misty heather.
1900 J. Conrad Lord Jim xxiv. 259 The coast of Patusan..is straight and sombre, and faces a misty ocean.
1928 D. H. Lawrence Let. 12 Sept. (1962) II. 1089 Mountains are beginning to be misty and a bit damp and silent and autumny.
1999 in D. Bolger Ladies' Night at Finbar's Hotel 166 Conor..loved soft romantic things: misty days in the west of Ireland.., traditional music [etc.].
b. Clouded with, or consisting of, fine particles resembling mist.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > air > [adjective] > specific qualities of (the) air > thick or turbid
troublyc1380
greata1398
murkc1480
mistyc1485
foggyc1487
troublea1500
grossa1592
fat1598
filthya1616
thick1626
murky1667
turbid1705
solid1807
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 26 Of the quhilk thare come out sik a mysty smoke of hidous reik.
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) iii. iii. 105 Apon sik wys oncertanly we went Thre days wilsum throu the mysty streym.
1557 Earl of Surrey et al. Songes & Sonettes sig. X.iiv The hargabushe in fleshe it lightes, And dims the ayre with misty smokes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. i. 6 Who..from their misty Iawes, Breath foule contagious darknesse in the ayre. View more context for this quotation
1786 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) I. 103 All in this mottie, misty clime.
1832 Ld. Tennyson Miller's Daughter viii, in Poems (new ed.) 37 The very air about the door Made misty with the floating meal!
1885 Manch. Examiner 4 May 5/3 The air is in fact quite misty with the fine impalpable dust.
1995 GQ Jan. 92/3 The Tallinn chief of police is dancing Travolta-style on the neon dance floor, misty with dry ice.
c. Having the appearance of being shrouded in mist; indistinct in form or outline.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > invisibility > [adjective] > indistinct
dimc1000
blinda1398
undistingued1398
obscure?a1450
undistinct1495
shadowed1588
undistinguishable1600
shady1626
blear1637
filmed1637
indistinguishable1642
crepusculous1646
adumbrated1650
oblite1650
faint1660
monogrammous1678
blurred1701
faintish1712
wispya1717
adumbrant1727
muzzy1744
indistinct1764
fuzzy1778
misty1797
shadowy1797
undistinguished1814
woolly1815
vague1822
furzy1825
mystified1833
slurred1843
feeble1860
smudginga1861
filmy1864
smudgy1865
blurry1884
slurry1937
1797 A. Radcliffe Italian II. i. 49 The long-drawn prospect faded into misty light.
1819 P. B. Shelley Rosalind & Helen 62 A troop Of misty shapes did seem to sit Beside me.
1833 N. Arnott Elements Physics (ed. 5) II. 207 The light from adjoining points will mix at the edges, and will render the images misty and indistinct.
1898 St. James's Gaz. 12 Jan. 12/1 Striped across..in a misty admixture of colouring.
1902 J. Conrad Heart of Darkness i, in Youth 55 Misty halos..made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.
1931 V. Woolf Waves 29 The rocks which had been misty and soft hardened and were marked with red clefts.
1988 Canad. Geographic Feb. 72/1 You see them everywhere in Nova Scotia: misty, black-and-white photographs, generally of great schooners in the dying days of the age of sail.
2.
a. Of the eyes: blurred with or as with tears; clouded with emotion or recollection.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > types of vision > [adjective] > blurred or blinded by tears
mistful1733
misty1859
1582 G. Whetstone Heptameron Ciuill Disc. sig. Uij Their mistie eyes hardly discerneth the hye way.
1583 P. Barrough Methode of Phisicke i. xxxiii. 42 There be som which by the occasion of the Opthalmy are greatly troubled in their eyes, and haue them fumous & mistie.
1616 T. Roe Jrnl. 25 Oct. in Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to India (1926) 265 The Kings eyes are mistye.
1816 M. Holford Margaret of Anjou viii. 227 With misty eyes and cloudy brow, In silent thought young Beaufort stood.
1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 86 Not so misty were her meek blue eyes As not to see before them on the path.
1897 Romance of Lady Barton II. 745 I never took my misty eyes off Trieste and our home.
1919 J. Conrad Arrow of Gold v. i With misty eyes I examined them [sc. brushes] meticulously with the new hope of finding one of Rita's tawny hairs entangled amongst the bristles.
1986 Z. Tomin Stalin's Shoe v. 71 Honorah's eyes went all soft and misty.
b. U.S. Of a person: misty-eyed, tearful; emotional, sentimental.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > [adjective] > full of or affected by emotion
taintc1330
thorough-thrilled1496
moved1527
feeling1583
emotioned1765
thorough-felt1789
instinct1797
quick1837
thrilled1850
emotional1851
enfraught1866
misty1957
1957 M. Shulman Rally round Flag, Boys! (1958) 44 I still get misty when I think about it.
1972 G. Lucas et al. Amer. Graffiti (film script) 38 (stage direct.) The crowd quiets, getting a little misty about this soon-to-be separated teenage couple.
1981 J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome 57 The film colony got misty in his presence.
1993 Harper's Mag. July 12/2 A couple of reporters started getting all misty about how they wished they could have been back in D.C. with their kids for Halloween.
II. Senses relating to obscurity of thought, language, etc.† 3. Obscure, unintelligible; difficult to understand or interpret. Obsolete.See etymological note above.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [adjective]
higheOE
dighela1000
deepc1000
darkOE
starkOE
dusk?c1225
subtle1340
dimc1350
subtilea1393
covert1393
mystica1398
murka1400
cloudyc1400
hard?c1400
mistyc1400
unclearc1400
diffuse1430
abstractc1450
diffused?1456
exquisitec1460
obnubilous?a1475
obscure?a1475
covered1484
intricate?a1500
nice?a1500
perplexeda1500
difficilea1513
difficult1530
privy1532
smoky1533
secret1535
abstruse?1549
difficul1552
entangled1561
confounded1572
darksome1574
obnubilate1575
enigmatical1576
confuse1577
mysteriousa1586
Delphic1598
obfuscatea1600
enfumed1601
Delphicala1603
obstruse1604
abstracted1605
confused1611
questionable1611
inevident1614
recondite1619
cryptic1620
obfuscated1620
transcendent1624
Delphian1625
oraculous1625
enigmatic1628
recluse1629
abdite1635
undilucidated1635
clouded1641
benighted1647
oblite1650
researched1653
obnubilated1658
obscurative1664
tenebrose1677
hyperbyssal1691
condite1695
diffusive1709
profound1710
tenebricose1730
oracular1749
opaque1761
unenlightening1768
darkling1795
offuscating1798
unrecognizable1817
tough1820
abstrusive1848
obscurant1878
out-of-focus1891
unplumbable1895
inenubilable1903
non-transparent1939
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > obscurity > [adjective]
darkOE
murka1400
cloudyc1400
mistyc1400
unclearc1400
obturate?a1425
obscure?a1439
unplain?c1535
obumbilatec1540
abstruse?1549
darksome1574
mysteriousa1586
obstruse1604
muddy1611
unperspicuous1634
clouded1641
imperspicuous1654
cramp1674
unlucid1711
abstract1725
opaque1761
obumbratory1799
darkling1813
sludgy1901
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. x. 181 (MED) Ac theologie hath tened me ten score tymes; The more I muse þer-Inne, þe mistier it semeth.
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 156 Wordis..ben mysty and derke to þe puple.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) Prol. 302 His mysty speche so hard is to vnfolde That he entriketh rederis that it se.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. Prol. f. ii Ryght mysty storyes doughtfull and vnclere.
c1530 Interl. Beauty & Good Prop. Women B iij b The wordes whych thou spekyst in my presence Be so mysty, I perseyue not thy sentence.
a1550 ( G. Ripley Compend of Alchemy (Bodl. e Mus.) f. 62v (MED) By this misty talkynge, I meane nothyng elles but that thow muste cast furste the lesse on the more.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Apol. Poetrie (1595) sig. D2v The Philosopher..is so hard of vtterance, and so mistie to bee conceiued, that [etc.].
1603 J. Florio tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. ii. xii. 294 Wherefore hath Heraclitus beene surnamed σκοτεινὸς, a darke mistie clowded fellow?
1624 T. Gataker Discuss. Transubstant. 201 What not mysticall, but mistie riddles are these?
1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Misty..2. Obscure; dark; not plain.
4. † a. That obscures; marked by or causing ignorance or confusion. Obsolete.† c. Of a person: clouded or impaired in intellectual acuity. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > want of knowledge, ignorance > intellectual ignorance > [adjective] > causing ignorance
misty1509
bedarkening1810
1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1845) 2 To drawe a curtayne I dare not to presume, Nor hyde my matter with a misty smoke.
1587 R. Holinshed et al. Hist. Eng. (new ed.) vi. xvi. 150/1 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) I Liuing in a time of palpable blindnesse and mistie superstition.
1635 Elegie: Deathe be not Proud in J. Donne Poems 273 Blinde were those eyes, saw not how bright did shine Through fleshes misty vaile those beames divine.
b. Not illuminated by reason, faith, logic, truth, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > want of knowledge, ignorance > intellectual ignorance > [adjective]
thestera900
thestria900
blindc1000
darkc1350
lightless?1406
obscurea1500
mistya1522
blinded1535
unilluminated1579
unlightened1587
stone-blind1596
endarkened1612
dark1628
benighted1637
unenlightened1650
bedarkened1655
unirradiated1792
darkened1856
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > inspiration or revelation > [adjective] > not
darkc1350
mistya1522
natural1526
endarkened1612
benighted1637
uninspired1700
unirradiated1792
darkened1856
a1522 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) i. Prol. 32 My waverand wyt, my cunnying febill at all, My mynd mysty.
1616 J. Hayward Sanctuarie Troubled Soule (new ed.) i. §3. 59 Mollifie my stony heart, illuminate my misty minde.
1633 P. Fletcher Purple Island iii. iv. 29 Shed in my mistie breast thy sparkling light.
1669 W. Penn No Cross, No Crown (1682) xx. §14 511 Though times began to look somewhat mistier, and the purity and spirituality of Religion to be much declined.
1749 S. Johnson Vanity Human Wishes 13 Should Reason guide thee with her brightest Ray, And pour on misty Doubt resistless Day.
1792 M. Wollstonecraft Vindic. Rights Woman v. 227 Thus degraded, her reason, her misty reason! is employed rather to burnish than to snap her chains.
1811 W. R. Spencer Poems 185 No beam of real fire My misty nature ever knows.
1860 N. Hawthorne Marble Faun II. iv. 45 It affected the sculptor with infinite pity to see this young man..now involved in a misty bewilderment of grievous thoughts.
1906 J. London White Fang ii. iv. 90 The cub was learning. His misty little mind had already made an unconscious classification.
1990 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 20 Dec. 36/2 It has turned his misty mind toward a dark and exalted vision of the German Kultur, which makes many of his countrymen squirm.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > imperfect perception > [adjective]
thestera900
thestria900
blindc1000
blindfoldc1450
blinkard?1528
purblind1533
blinded1535
blear-eyed1561
obcaecate1568
unilluminated1579
fonda1592
blear-witted1600
short-sighted1622
baby-blind1627
obcaecated1641
misty-brained1649
twilighta1677
blindfolded1730
short-sighted1736
unpliable1769
misty1820
myopical1830
visionless1856
myopic1891
blinkered1897
1820 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 8 44 The Parsons should grow misty On good Lac Virginis, or Lachryma Christi.
1848 H. Rogers Ess. (1874) I. vi. 316 A little too misty readily to follow the argument, they got drowsy.
5. Of thought, speech, memory, etc.: lacking definite form or character; vague, indistinct, confused.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > obscurity > [adjective] > vague or inexplicit
oblique?a1475
overthwart1545
indirect1584
slenting1642
undeterminate1649
vaguea1661
wide1662
indeterminate1773
unexplicit1775
nebulose1799
imprecise1805
misty1816
nebulous1817
inexplicit1827
fuzzy1937
soft-focused1942
wifty-wafty1943
1816 J. W. Croker in Croker Papers 28 Nov. (1884) I That misty pomp of language which you..think laudable.
1855 ‘G. Eliot’ in Westm. Rev. Oct. 442 Their sense of truthfulness is misty and confused.
1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind iv. 58 A misty recollection hovering about it in our minds.
1890 C. Gross Gild Merchant I. 94 The jurists had not yet shrouded the notion in misty complexity.
1933 Amer. Boy Sept. 3/1 Tod Moran..stood by the bullwarks of the foredeck, his thoughts as vague and misty as the San Francisco sky line.
1955 J. Cheever Jrnls. (1991) 56 Why should I be left with nothing but my misty ambitions for the good weal.
1992 New Republic 18 May 5/1 Even the mawkish Hélène Cixous, with her misty visions of primal womanliness, doesn't know diddly squat about hormones or animal behaviour.
Compounds
C1.
misty-brained adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > imperfect perception > [adjective]
thestera900
thestria900
blindc1000
blindfoldc1450
blinkard?1528
purblind1533
blinded1535
blear-eyed1561
obcaecate1568
unilluminated1579
fonda1592
blear-witted1600
short-sighted1622
baby-blind1627
obcaecated1641
misty-brained1649
twilighta1677
blindfolded1730
short-sighted1736
unpliable1769
misty1820
myopical1830
visionless1856
myopic1891
blinkered1897
1649 C. Walker Anarchia Angl. (rev. ed.) II. 80 For this you must take the faith of the misty-brained Pen-man, who had this..by Revelation.
2001 www2.cs.cmu.edu 20 Nov. (O.E.D. Archive) She was misty-eyed,..and he was misty-brained, grotesquely referring to battery chickens..as ‘these happy hens, they're sitting among their friends’.
misty-bright adj.
ΚΠ
a1861 A. H. Clough Poems II. 257 Bright October was come, the misty-bright October.
1928 E. Blunden Retreat 43 And still has misty-bright esteems of all thy trances shy and scared, thy pure streams.
misty-dark adj.
ΚΠ
1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. i. 411/1 Through the misty-darke times of which Stories..I am lastly approched to these times of more light.
2001 www.eterniata.com 20 Nov. (O.E.D. Archive) A cavern misty-dark that no one dares, the hooded light where terror roams.
misty-looking adj.
ΚΠ
1828 J. F. Cooper Red Rover I. xiv But a glance at the misty looking image on the western horizon seemed ever to cause his mind to change its purpose.
1978 Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. (Gardening Guide) 4/1 Use them to make a soft, misty-looking romantic garden as pretty as an old-time stage set, or a zingy modern garden with supergraphics done with flowers instead of paint.
misty-magnific adj. rare
ΚΠ
1811–26 S. T. Coleridge Marginalia (2000) V. 534 Three other ¶s so vague and misty-magnific as this is.
misty-soft adj.
ΚΠ
1860 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters V. 140 The rain-clouds in the dawn..not shining, but misty-soft.
2000 Hindu 17 Dec. (Mag.) p. ii/1 The Immigration desks gentled by a vast, misty-soft, mural of the Great Wall.
misty-visioned adj.
ΚΠ
1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 5 Oct. 11/2 A misty-visioned political sect.
C2.
misty-eyed adj. having tears in one's eyes; that moves one to tears.
ΚΠ
1895 S. Crane Red Badge of Courage xxi. 201 He veiled a glance of disdain at his fellows who strewed the ground, choking with dust, red from perspiration, misty-eyed, disheveled.
1956 W. H. Whyte Organization Man (1957) iii. xiii. 156 He can grow as misty-eyed as the next man at the banquet honoring the Grand Old Man.
1974 M. Cecil Heroines in Love vi. 151 Misty-eyed emotion and passionate declarations of love.
1986 J. Nagenda Seasons of T. Tebo ii. viii. 101 People met in the capitals of the world and grew misty-eyed at Dondo parties recalled.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† mistyadj.2
Obsolete.
Relating to, involving, or characteristic of spiritual mysteries; mystical, spiritual. Also: figurative.Often difficult to distinguish from misty adj.1 3: see etymological note at misty adj.1
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > mysticism > [adjective]
mistya1382
mystica1382
anagogicc1395
mysterial?a1425
mysticala1513
mysterious1624
gnostic1800
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > mysticism > a mystery > [adjective]
mistya1382
mysterial?a1425
mystic1577
mystical1577
mysterious1624
telestic1662
a1382 [implied in: Prefatory Epist. St. Jerome in Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) vii. 60 Þe whych in þe psauter ben mystyly [L. mystice] contenede. (at mistily adv.1)].
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) II. 286 (MED) Þre mysty wittis ben tokened in þe same story.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 203 O Sion mysti douȝter.
a1450 (?c1421) J. Lydgate Siege Thebes (Arun.) (1911) 630 (MED) He [sc. the Theban sphinx] was ordeyned..To sleen..all that did fayle To expowne his mysty dyvynaile.
1530 Myroure Oure Ladye (Fawkes) (1873) iii. 330 Holy chyrche whyche ys called the mysty or spyrytuall body of cryste.
1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Iiv/1 Mysty, mistery, mysticus.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1OE
adj.2a1382