miss

I. verb Etymology: Middle English, from Old English missan; akin to Old High German missan to miss Date: before 12th century transitive verb 1. to fail to hit, reach, or contact <

miss the target

> 2. to discover or feel the absence of 3. to fail to obtain 4. escape, avoid <

just missed hitting the other car

> 5. to leave out ; omit 6. to fail to comprehend, sense, or experience <

missed the point of the speech

> 7. to fail to perform or attend <

had to miss school for a week

> intransitive verb 1. archaic to fail to get, reach, or do something 2. to fail to hit something 3. a. to be unsuccessful b. misfire <

the engine missed

> • missable adjective II. noun Date: 12th century 1. chiefly dialect disadvantage or regret resulting from loss <

we know the miss of you, and even hunger…to see you — Samuel Richardson

> 2. a. a failure to hit b. a failure to attain a desired result 3. misfire III. noun Etymology: short for mistress Date: 1667 1. capitalized a. — used as a title prefixed to the name of an unmarried woman or girl b. — used before the name of a place or of a line of activity or before some epithet to form a title for a usually young unmarried female who is representative of the thing indicated <

Miss America

> 2. young lady — used without a name as a conventional term of address to a young woman 3. a young unmarried woman or girl 4. plural a clothing size for women of average height and build