missingn.1
/ˈmɪsɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈmɪsɪŋ/ a. Absence, privation, lack; disadvantage or regret caused by loss or absence. Formerly also: non-occurrence. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > absence > [noun] > absence or loss
missOE
missinga1375
the mind > possession > non-possession > [noun] > state of being devoid of something > lacking or being without something
missOE
tharningc1175
missinga1375
lacking1377
wantingc1390
necessitya1393
destitutiona1440
poverty?1440
misture1563
unprovidedness1606
unprovision1631
wantingness1643
carency1655
nudity1656
destituteness1818
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) 2114 (MED) For missing of þat mariage al murrþe [read murþe] was seced.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 14228 (MED) We sal find missing witerli Of vr god freind o bethani.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xi. 201 God wol nat lete hym sterue..for lacke of mete, ne for myssynge of cloþes.
a1450 York Plays (1885) 478 (MED) Of mirth shall þou neuere haue missing.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Arthur of Brytayn (?1560) ciiii. sig. E*iiiiv Theyr hoost is..in great trouble for the myssynge of theyr emperoure.
1574 J. Davidson in C. Rogers Three Sc. Reformers (1874) 117 I trowe sic missing of a man Wes not in Kyle sen it began.
1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. iv. 441/1 Vpon which his suddaine flight and missing, the Empresse Maud..was suspected to bee guilty of his death.
1634 Bp. J. Hall Contempl. Hist. New Test. (STC 12640.5) 282 Shee freely confesseth the cause of her griefe to be the missing of her Saviour.
?c1663 B. Whitelocke Diary (1990) 127 The house was acquainted with the missing of the paper.
1680 Cloud of Witnesses (1714) 51 The greatest persecutor or malignant will have sore missing of His favour in that day.
1792 F. Burney Jrnl. Mar. (1972) I. 132 The dreadful missing of my poor Uncle, & his terrible recovery.
1844 J. Ballantine Miller of Deanhaugh v. 100 Our wife..will hae a sair missin' o' her wee bantam Jockie.
1892 F. E. W. Harper Iola Leroy vii. 55 Iola..went back, after the burial, to her daily round of duties, feeling the sad missing of something from her life.
b. Scottish. in missing: absent, lost; wanting, lacking. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1578 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. 197 Gif ony thing war in missing.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 39 In Rosse and Loquhaber..ar nocht in missing fir trie sufficient.
1614 in R. Pitcairn Criminal Trials Scotl. (1833) III. 298 That his fader wes in missing and oute of the castell of Dunbartane.
2. Failure to hit, obtain, attain to, or take advantage of; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > spending time > [noun] > wasting time
lettingc1440
slacking1542
missinga1547
dalliance1567
slipping1571
time-wasting1670
the world > action or operation > failure or lack of success > [noun] > failure to achieve or attain
missinga1547
miss1609
fall-down1901
society > travel > aspects of travel > travel in specific course or direction > [noun] > straying or going astray > failure to find the right way
missinga1547
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [noun] > failure to make use or take advantage of
lossc1385
missinga1547
the world > space > place > absence > [noun] > failure to attend
unfrequenting1620
non-attendance1648
missing1711
a1547 Earl of Surrey tr. Virgil Certain Bks. Aenæis (1557) ii. sig. Dii Whether by fate, or missing of the way.
a1628 J. Preston New Covenant (1629) 586 The missing of time bringeth misery.
1660 S. Pepys Diary 28 Mar. (1970) I. 99 Today we have news of the election at Huntington for Bernard and Pedly, at which my Lord was much troubled for his friends missing of it.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 15. ¶ 7 The missing of an Opera the first Night.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson iii. i. 302 The currents were all the time driving us to the northward..and we thereby risqued the missing of the Ladrones.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones V. xiii. ii. 13 These kind of hair-breadth Missings of Happiness. View more context for this quotation
1858 O. W. Holmes Autocrat of Breakfast-table ix. 238 That trick of throwing a stone at a tree and attaching some mighty issue to hitting or missing.
1891 W. Morris News from Nowhere xxix. 217 The missing of something one might set one's heart on.
1927 Observer 3 July 18/1 A series of very bad shots, including a double fault by Borotra, the missing of absolute ‘sitters’ by both players [etc.].
1993 I. Walker Know-how for Personal Injury Lawyers 93 The most common cause for solicitors having to claim on their professional indemnity insurance..is the missing of time limits.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > lack of truth, falsity > an error, mistake > [noun]
misnimming?c1225
errora1340
defaulta1387
balkc1430
fault1523
jeofail1546
errat1548
trip1548
naught1557
missa1568
missinga1568
slide1570
snappera1572
amiss1576
mistaking1579
misprize1590
mistake1600
berry-block1603
solecism1603
fallibility1608
stumblea1612
blota1657
slur1662
incorrectnessa1771
bumble1823
skew1869
(to make) a false step1875
slip-up1909
ricket1958
bad1981
a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) ii. f. 31v Shew his faultes iently,..of such missings, ientlie admonished of, procedeth glad & good heed taking.
1664 S. Pepys Diary 10 Aug. (1971) V. 237 To see him..read it all over without any missing, when..I could not..read one word or letter of it.
Compounds
ΚΠ
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Bowling Bowl-room, or missing-wood, is when a bowl has free passage, without striking on any other.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
missingadj.n.2
/ˈmɪsɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈmɪsɪŋ/ A. adj.† 2. That fails to hit. Obsolete.† 3. British regional. Of a crop: that has failed. Cf. miss v.1 12a. Obsolete.
1.
a. Not present; not to be found; absent; lost. Frequently predicatively.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > absence > [adjective]
absenta1325
missinga1400
truanta1550
absenteda1586
AWOL1895
the mind > possession > loss > [adjective] > lost > missing
missinga1400
a-missing1590
a1400 (?c1300) Bevis of Hampton (Egerton) l. 1447 + 2 When þat he fro me wende, He toke no leue, he is myssende.
1534 J. Heywood Play of Loue sig. Aii Which one ones founde I fynde of all the rest Not one myssyng.
?1567 Merie Tales Master Skelton sig. Ciiii Skelton was verye angrie that his cup was mysynge.
1611 Bible (King James) 1 Kings xx. 39 Keep this man: if by any meanes he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) v. i. 257 There are yet missing of your Companie Some few odde Lads. View more context for this quotation
1649 Armies Weekly Intelligencer No. 4. 31 A London Ship coming home is missing, and therefore it is feared she is met withall by the way.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd ii. 15 Moses was in the Mount, and missing long. View more context for this quotation
1727 J. Swift Phyllis in J. Swift et al. Misc.: Last Vol. ii. 238 Next Morn, betimes, the Bride was missing.
1780 B. Franklin Let. 17 June in Papers (1996) XXXII. 541 The learned talk of the Discovery he has made in the Escurial Library, of..a missing Part of Tacitus.
1787 Sessions Papers 10 Jan. 325/2 The maid said two men were missing, and the others said, G——d d——n them, they are gone a girling.
1833 H. Martineau Manch. Strike (new ed.) i. 8 Missing from home.
1848 J. Arnould Law Marine Insurance I. ii. ii. 540 The ship is what is called a missing ship; i.e. has been so long on the voyage that the owner has reason to suspect that she has met with some casualty.
1937 R. K. Narayan Bachelor of Arts xiii. 194 He was busy searching for a missing son.
1988 A. Storr School of Genius vii. 97 Patients suffering from depression..often complain that they feel empty; that there is something missing, a void within.
b. spec. Of a person, esp. after an accident or during wartime: reported as absent and not yet confirmed as alive or dead, captured, etc. Frequently in missing in action and missing, presumed dead and variants. Also in extended use.See also quot. 1649 at sense A. 1a.
ΚΠ
a1839 T. Hood Waterloo Ballad in Hood's Own 282/2 Before I'm set in the Gazette As wounded, dead, and missing.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. xxvii. 212 In a moment the missing man was drawn from between its jaws [sc. of the fissure].
1900 Daily News 26 May 4/2 War Office Statement... The term ‘missing’ means that a soldier's fate has not been definitely ascertained.
1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings p. xii Once eleven of our machines were posted as ‘missing’ in the space of two days.
1952 M. Allingham Tiger in Smoke i. 12 The War Box cited him ‘Missing believed killed’.
1962 Listener 11 Oct. 585/1 His [sc. Schönberg's] music seemed dead-alive on more than one occasion... Ernest Newman..reported him missing, presumed dead, just because he did not seem to have made it in time.
1991 J. Barth Last Voy. Somebody the Sailor 119 Seaman 1st Class Joseph Behler, Jr., was missing in action in the Pacific theater of operations.
ΚΠ
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Astrophel & Stella xxiii The curious wits,..With idle paines, and missing ayme, do guesse.
1603 J. Florio tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. i. xxxix. 125 A never missing runner at the Ring.
ΚΠ
1777 Mr. Elleray in A. Hunter et al. Georgical Ess. (new ed.) ii. iv. 408 Finding some beds I had sown very early with onions to be a missing crop.
B. n.2
With plural agreement. Usually with the. Missing people or objects as a class. Originally and chiefly in among the missing (U.S. colloquial): absent, away from home.
ΚΠ
1832 New-Eng. Mag. Mar. 268 There were two or three poets..that figured conspicuously in the first edition..now among the missing in this second edition.
1836 Hill's Yankee Story Teller's Own Bk. 32 The chap was among the missing. He had pulled foot for Baltimore.
1855 T. C. Haliburton Nature & Human Nature I. i. 11 If a person inquires if you are to home, the servant is directed to say, no, if you don't want to be seen, and choose to be among the missing.
1859 in J. R. Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 273 There comes old David for my militia fine. I don't want to see him, and think I will be among the missing.
1884 Manch. Examiner 9 Aug. 5/1 Supposing the scuttlers..had not bungled in the business, the ship would have been among the missing.
1918 W. Owen Let. 8 Oct. (1967) 581 Must now write to hosts of parents of Missing, etc.
1976 A. Eden Another World ix. 102 The missing were those of whose fate in action no survivor could give any first-hand details.
1991 Vis à Vis May 72/1 Pacino is both amused and alarmed by the widespread conceit that he had spent most of the 1980s among the missing.
Phrases
to go missing: to become lost or not able to be found, esp. through not being in an expected place.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > loss > be lost [verb (intransitive)] > be missing or mislaid
to be out of the way1580
to fall by1640
to go missing1845
to go (on) walkabout(s)1944
to go walkies1971
1845 N.Y. Herald 12 Oct. 1/3 Do not recollect seeing the piece of brass that is now gone missing, before.
1896 Sydney Record Aug. 2/1 There is no other oversea trade..where such a large proportion of ships have gone missing.
1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights 56 The snout had gone missing.
1982 R. Hall Just Relations i. v. 52 You'd only need a milkchurn to go missing for half the people to be at the other half's necks.
2011 Camarthen Jrnl. (Nexis) 31 Aug. 38 A new advertising sign for the Joiners Arms went missing..last week.
Compounds
missing heir n. an heir whose whereabouts are unknown; such an heir featured as a device in a literary plot.
ΚΠ
1873 Scribner's Monthly Nov. 80 It was she..who had unearthed the fact that Neil Goddard was the missing heir.
1916 J. Buchan Greenmantle xii. 167 In this game you must drop the curtain neat and pat at the end of each scene, if you don't want trouble later with the missing heir.
1961 ‘E. Lathen’ Banking on Death i. 5 The Sloan [Guaranty Trust] doesn't handle many missing heir problems these days.
1997 Calif. Lawyer July 82/1 (advt.) Contested inheritance cases come in many forms:..an absconding or negligent fiduciary..missing heirs, etc.
missing person n. (frequently in plural) a person whose whereabouts are unknown and who has not been traced or confirmed to be alive; frequently attributive designating an organization, etc., recording information about such persons.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > absence > [noun] > one who is absent
absenta1500
discontinuer1577
absenter1678
absentee1735
missing person1850
absence1866
1850 Fraser's Mag. Aug. 178/1 People began to tell tales of strange disappearances, in which the missing persons returned after a lapse of ten or fifteen years.
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda II. iii. xx. 39 There were safer means than advertising: men might be set to work whose business it was to find missing persons.
1943 R. Chandler Lady in Lake (1944) ii. 15 It will mean going to the Missing Persons Bureau.
1975 ‘E. Lathen’ By Hook or by Crook xv. 147 The..kids had been missing persons all through the war.
1991 J. Neel Death of Partner 17 Most missing person reports do not end in a murder. Typically they are husbands or wives walking out to live somewhere else.
missing word n. a word omitted from a sentence or series of words in a puzzle in a newspaper or magazine competition, to be supplied by the competitor; frequently attributive designating such a competition.
ΚΠ
1892 Times 14 Dec. 9/4 The decision of Sir John Bridge, to the effect that the ‘missing word’ competitions..are contrary to the law by which lotteries are forbidden.
1898 G. Gissing Town Trav. xxv The missing word this week, discovered by an East-end licensed victualler, was pick-me-up.
1907 Daily Chron. 25 June 5/3 There has been no more successful outlet for the gambling instinct since the missing-word competitions.
1992 Woodworker Feb. 3 Our wordsearch competition..brought a pile of correct answers into the Woodworker office. The missing word was, of course, cordless.
Derivatives
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > sorrow caused by loss > [adverb]
missinglya1616
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. ii. 31 I haue (missingly) noted, he is of late much retyred from Court. View more context for this quotation
ˈmissingness n. the quality or condition of being missing; absence.
ΚΠ
1955 E. Bowen World of Love ix. 167 Maud as a character had to be re-assessed—she was a bandit not out of contempt for law but out of contempt for its missingness from Montefort.
1990 K. Lawrence Springs Living Water ix. 175 Everything had to shift to accommodate her permanent, indelible missingness: the sense which, vague at first, gradually enlarged to a certainty that they would never hear her hollering in the kitchen again.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
> as lemmas
mis-sing
mis-sing v.
Brit. /ˌmɪsˈsɪŋ/
, /ˌmɪsˈsɪŋ/U.S. /ˌmɪ(s)ˈsɪŋ/
/ˌmɪ(s)ˈsɪŋ/ΚΠ
1595 T. Lodge Fig for Momus sig. C There was a time (or writers haue missung) Wherein our partiall mothers ballance hung.
1606 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iii. 109 It will not seeme then, that I haue mis-sung.
1990 Independent (Nexis) 27 Jan. 32 Miss Vaughan mis-sang ‘we dined alone..with never a trace of any chaperone’ as ‘with never a trace of any chapter one’.
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n.1a1375
adj.n.2a1400as lemmas