mislay
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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
-
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:
Why do airlines still mislay 25 million bags a year?
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2021
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
She would forget names once in a while and would mislay her car keys on occasion.
From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 2010
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
I shall give the name of him who mislays my pen and uses up my ink.
From The Turtles of Tasman by London, Jack
"Well, Burt's good-hearted, but sometimes he mislays his judgment," said Webb, laughing.
From Nature's Serial Story by Roe, Edward Payson
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 Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm
And that boy of mine is such a stupid fellow; he loses or mislays the letters somehow—I can’t understand how.
From Post Haste by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
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
People can also use its tracing service to track down mislaid bonds, he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2025
What follows is a suspenseful tale of misplaced trust, mislaid memories and unreliable narration.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 23, 2023
One letter missed its issue because the Coop office mislaid it and never sent it to the editor.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2022
Discounting a totally negligible incident a couple of years earlier, when he had methodically dragged the entire apartment for a mislaid or “stolen” tennis-racket press.
From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger
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
To this day, he admits that something as simple as mislaying a pen in his "monstrous London uber-pad" can trigger a whole new wave of furious self-hatred.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 18, 2010
"You are always mislaying your spectacles and finding them again," grumbled Adler, leaning his head on his hand.
From More Tales by Polish Authors by Various
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.
