missell

From mis- +‎ sell.

missell (third-person singular simple present missells, present participle misselling, simple past and past participle missold)

1. (transitive) To sell something wrongly or fraudulently.

   The company is accused of misselling insurance policies.

   • 2024 February 7, Christian Wolmar, “LNER's crazy idea will price more people off the railway”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 45:

     HS2 has never had that. It was missold, misnamed and misconceived. It was promoted as a piece of engineering, rather than as a vital part of the railway.

From Middle English mesel (“leprous, leper”), from Norman mesel (“leprous, leper”), from Old French mesel (“leprous, leper”), from Late Latin misellus (“leper”), from miser (“wretched, wretch”) + -ellus (“-elle”). Doublet of measles.

missell

1. Obsolete form of mesel in its various senses.

missell (plural missells)

1. Obsolete form of mesel in its various senses.

• “† mesel, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.

• Melliss