mislay
Americanverb (used with object)
-
mislays,
present (3rd person singular)
-
mislaid,
past participle, past
-
mislaying
present participle
-
to lose temporarily; misplace.
He mislaid his keys.
-
to lay or place wrongly; arrange or situate improperly.
to mislay linoleum.
verb
-
to lose (something) temporarily, esp by forgetting where it is
-
to lay (something) badly
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
mislaysimple
-
mislayssimple
-
have mislaidperfect
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has mislaidperfect
-
am mislayingprogressive
-
are mislayingprogressive
-
is mislayingprogressive
-
have been mislayingperfect progressive
-
has been mislayingperfect progressive
Past
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mislaidsimple
-
had mislaidperfect
-
was mislayingprogressive
-
were mislayingprogressive
-
had been mislayingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mislay
First recorded in 1350–1400, mislay is from Middle English mysse layen. See mis- 1, lay 1
Explanation
If you mislay something, you lose it temporarily. People who tend to mislay their house keys sometimes hide an extra key under a rock near the front door. If you mislay your cell phone inside, you can ask your brother to call your number. If your grandmother mislays her hearing aid, you'll have to shout and gesture until she finds it again. Mislay implies that you've put the lost object down somewhere, and you'll find it again soon. The word adds the "bad" or "wrong" prefix mis- to lay, from the Old English lecgan, "to place on the ground."
Vocabulary lists containing mislay
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: mis-
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
If the clocks on those satellites stray by a millionth of a second, you'll mislay yourself by 200km or 300km.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2019
The physical world is an annoyance, an afterthought, a place where they mislay their pills and can’t seem to remember why it was that they entered a room or left it.
From New York Times ● Jun. 10, 2018
If you’re easily offended or confused, mislay this book and go back to “All the Light We Cannot See.”
From Washington Post ● May 12, 2015
The task isn't simply to avoid panic at the crucial juncture but to be sure not to mislay one's excrement in between times, while the opposing captain jiggles his field and the bowler runs up.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 1, 2013
They all knew what the almanac looked like; their miserably uncomfortable master seemed to mislay it with every full moon.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
All the same, who would have thought it could be so much fun to be trapped inside the head of the type of person who so radically mislays herself?
From Time Magazine Archive
Othello mislays his handkerchief, and there remains nothing for him but death.
From Modern Painters, Volume IV (of V) by John Ruskin
"Well, Burt's good-hearted, but sometimes he mislays his judgment," said Webb, laughing.
From Nature's Serial Story by Edward Payson Roe
Near to Beggary.—Even the richest intellect sometimes mislays the key to the room in which his hoarded treasures repose.
From Human, All-Too-Human, Part II by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
Having duly impressed "Good King Wenceslas" upon us, it is now rendering an emotional waltz, of which, though now and then it may drop a note or two, it mislays none of the pathos.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, December 30, 1914 by Sir Owen Seaman
Wills can be destroyed or mislaid, accidentally on purpose; beneficiary designations are the purview of the financial institution in question.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2025
After they mislaid evidence a number of times, she says, she carried her home computer and a pile of paperwork into the police station.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2025
What follows is a suspenseful tale of misplaced trust, mislaid memories and unreliable narration.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 23, 2023
"I can't believe I mislaid an entire day!"
From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2022
It either went underground, becoming esoteric or occult, or it was mislaid and would eventually turn up after centuries of lying neglected in some monastery library.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Her soaring film career has by now supplied Brown with such an array of other fictional gifts and odd abilities that mislaying her telekinetic powers doesn’t seem quite so bad.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 28, 2021
Losing AirPods would be much more frustrating than mislaying a $15 pair of headphones from the airport.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 22, 2016
The impression given by reports in The Sun newspaper is unfair an mislaying, and my words have often been taken out of context.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 19, 2013
In addition to unsettled weather, ominous portents include the groom’s mislaying of the ring, and his first squabble with Dolly, in which he refuses to take her beloved pet turtle on the overseas voyage.
From New York Times ● Dec. 6, 2012
You're always mislaying it or afraid you will.
From Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1902 to 1903 by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
