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English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Late Middle English misellen (to drizzle), cognate with Low German miseln, musseln (to mizzle), Dutch miezelen (to drizzle, rain gently). Of obscure origin, possibly a frequentative related to the base of mist; or, related to Middle Low German mes (urine), Middle Dutch mes, mis (urine), both from Old Saxon mehs (urine), from Proto-Germanic *mihstuz, *mihstaz, *mihsk- (urine), from *mīganą (to urinate), from Proto-Indo-European *meiǵʰ-, *omeiǵʰ- (to urinate). Compare also English micturate (to urinate), Old Frisian mese (urine), Low German miegen (to urinate), Dutch mijgen (to urinate), Danish mige (to urinate).

Verb

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mizzle (third-person singular simple present mizzles, present participle mizzling, simple past and past participle mizzled)

  1. (intransitive, British, Canada, US, chiefly dialectal) To rain in very fine drops.
    Synonym: drizzle
Translations
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Noun

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mizzle (uncountable)

  1. (British, chiefly dialectal) Misty rain; drizzle.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Unknown. Perhaps from Shelta mi(e)sli (go).[1][2]

Verb

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mizzle (third-person singular simple present mizzles, present participle mizzling, simple past and past participle mizzled)

  1. (chiefly British) To abscond, scram, flee.
    • 19th c. Epigram quoted by Thomas Wright (1810 - 1877), reproduced in Webster 1902-1913:
      As long as George IV could reign, he reigned, and then he mizzled.
    • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, [], published 1850, →OCLC:
      “Now you may mizzle, Jemmy (as we say at Court), and if Mr. Copperfield will take the chair I’ll operate on him.”
    • 1986, Joan Aiken, Dido and Pa [1]
      “Now you better mizzle,” Dido told him. “Get back to your own quarters, fast.”
  2. (intransitive) To yield.
  3. (transitive) To muddle or confuse. (Probably from a misreading of past tense/participle misled.)

References

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  1. ^ An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English →ISBN
  2. ^ Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang →ISBN