† miswendv.
Obsolete.
1. intransitive. To go astray (literal and figurative); to come to grief, go to ruin. Also transitive (in passive) in same sense.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > failure or lack of success > fail or be unsuccessful [verb (intransitive)] > come to grief
misfareOE
miswendOE
misferec1275
misspeeda1387
miscarryc1387
mischieve?a1400
to catch copper1530
to lose one's seatc1540
mischief1598
to bu(r)st one's boiler1824
to come to grief1850
to come (also go) a mucker1851
to come (fall, get) a cropper1858
mucker1862
to go or be up the flume1865
to come undone1899
to play smash1903
to come to a sticky end1904
to come unstuck1911
society > morality > moral evil > wrong conduct > act wrongly or immorally [verb (intransitive)] > err or go wrong or astray
misfareeOE
wanderc897
dwelec900
miswendOE
misfereOE
misnimc1225
failc1290
to go willa1300
misgoc1300
misstepc1300
errc1315
strayc1325
folly1357
wryc1369
crookc1380
miscarryc1390
ravec1390
astray1393
forloinc1400
delire?a1475
to go wrong?1507
to tread the shoe awrya1542
swerve1576
prevaricate1582
tread awrya1625
society > travel > aspects of travel > travel in specific course or direction > direct one's course [verb (intransitive)] > stray or go astray
dwelec900
miswendOE
to fare astray (misliche, amiss)c1175
to step astray, awry, beside1297
weyec1315
outrayc1330
strayc1330
waivea1375
forvay1390
outwandera1400
stragglea1425
waverc1485
wander?1507
swerve1543
wift?a1560
random1561
estray1572
egar1584
to go a-strayinga1586
to step aside1787
err1819
moider1839
maverick1910
society > travel > aspects of travel > travel in specific course or direction > direct one's course [verb (passive)] > go astray
miswendOE
society > morality > moral evil > wrong conduct > act wrongly or immorally [verb (intransitive)] > err or go wrong or astray > be lost or strayed
miswenda1393
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) vii. 236 Ða miswendon sume þa englas, heora agenne cyre, & þurh modignysse hi sylfe to awyrigedum deoflum geworhton.
OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1881) I. 16 Þonne gif seo gewylnung miswent, þonne acenð he gyfernesse, and forlygr and gitsunge.
c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 154 (MED) Wy madest þou man mys-byleue, And þous mys-went?
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) Prol. 517 And eche in his compleignte telleth How that the world is al miswent.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iii. 1548 (MED) And that makth al mi world miswende.
a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) i. 633 There thow woost that I have aught myswent, Eschuw thow that.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) vii. 429 (MED) It sittith nat in no maner wise..he that hath al his lyff Ispent In wast & riot, forfetid & myswent, To been a iuge.
c1450 C. d'Orleans Poems (1941) 2420 (MED) Thus am y blynd, allas and welaway, Al fer myswent [Fr. fouruoye] with my staf grapsyng wey.
1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) (1859) iii. iii. 51 Good hede he took..that cord or chaine were nought myswent other wise than it shold.
1581 B. Rich Farewell Militarie Profession sig. E.iv I now forsake, the former tyme I spent, And sorry am, for that I was miswent.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Dial. Two Sheph. in Arcadia (1613) sig. Ss11 What? is thy Bagpipe broke, or are thy lambs miswent?
1591 E. Spenser Prosopopoia in Complaints 128 Things mis~counselled must needs miswend.
1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene iv. v. sig. E5v Who likewise sought her louer long miswent . View more context for this quotation
1600 E. Fairfax tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne ii. x. 21 In this maze still wandred and miswent.
1723 Rep. MSS Duke of Portland (Hist. MSS Comm.) VI. 77 He that would see a church miswent, Let him go to Cuckeston in Kent.
2.
a. transitive. To pervert, subvert (something); to misuse, misapply.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > incorrect information > report or state wrongly [verb (transitive)] > lead into error, mislead
dwellc888
forlereOE
beleada1000
forleseOE
misteachOE
undergoc1000
mislearOE
misleadOE
bicharrea1100
bedwelec1205
overlead?c1225
misbihedec1300
miswendc1325
misguyc1375
miscounsel1389
misbeleadc1390
faitc1430
miswrest?a1475
misguide1480
scandalize1538
misadvise1548
misdraw1599
misdirect1603
traduce1613
to throw (also put) off the scenta1637
misswaya1640
undirect1647
mislight1648
widdlea1689
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [verb (transitive)] > misapply > pervert
miswendc1325
misturna1382
pervertc1390
transpose1509
wrestc1530
bend1531
crooken1552
intervert1603
invert1603
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [verb (transitive)] > waste
spilla1000
scatter1154
aspilla1250
rospa1325
waste1340
spend1390
consumec1425
waste1474
miswenda1500
forsumea1510
to cast away1530
to throw away1561
embezzle1578
squander1593
palter1595
profuse1611
squander1611
ravel1614
sport1622
to fool away1628
to stream out1628
to fribble away1633
sweal1655
frisk1665
to fiddle away1667
wantonize1673
slattera1681
swattle1681
drivel1686
swatter1690
to muddle away1707
squander1717
sot1746
slattern1747
meisle1808
fritter1820
waster1821
slobber1837
to cut to waste1863
fringe1863
potter1883
putter1911
profligate1938
to piddle away1942
haemorrhage1978
spaff2002
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 7217 Vr louerd..prest aþ imad uor to smite men þat beþ mis wend.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 22 (MED) Ac uor hire euele tongen, hi miswendeþ moche uolk to done wel.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 27/9 Þe herte of þe enuious ys enuenymed and suo miswent.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vi. 2361 Nectanabus his craft miswente.
a1500 (a1475) G. Ashby Dicta Philosophorum 469 in Poems (1899) 63 (MED) That the myddyl of your liffe be not spent In ydelnesse, ne in vnthrifte myswent.
b. transitive. To misinterpret, misconstrue.
ΚΠ
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 62 (MED) Þe vifte is huanne he miswent and went to þe worse half al þet he yherþ oþer yzigþ.
a1475 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 153 (MED) Þer þe bibell is al myswent..þat construen hit after her entent for lewde lust of lollardie.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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v.OE