mist

¹

[ mist ]

noun

1. a cloudlike aggregation of minute globules of water suspended in the atmosphere at or near the earth's surface, reducing visibility to a lesser degree than fog.
2. a cloud of particles resembling this:

   She sprayed a mist of perfume onto her handkerchief.

3. something that dims, obscures, or blurs:

   the mist of ignorance.

4. a haze before the eyes that dims the vision:

   a mist of tears.

5. a suspension of a liquid in a gas.
6. a drink of liquor served over cracked ice.
7. a fine spray produced by a vaporizer to add moisture to the air for breathing.

verb (used without object)

1. to become misty.
2. to rain in very fine drops; drizzle (usually used impersonally with it as subject):

   It was misting when they went out for lunch.

verb (used with object)

1. to make misty.
2. to spray (plants) with a finely diffused jet of water, as a means of replacing lost moisture.

mist.

²

abbreviation for

1. (in prescriptions) a mixture.

mist

/ mɪst /

noun

1. a thin fog resulting from condensation in the air near the earth's surface
2. meteorol such an atmospheric condition with a horizontal visibility of 1–2 kilometres
3. a fine spray of any liquid, such as that produced by an aerosol container
4. chem a colloidal suspension of a liquid in a gas
5. condensed water vapour on a surface that blurs the surface
6. something that causes haziness or lack of clarity, such as a film of tears

verb

1. to cover or be covered with or as if with mist

mist

/ mĭst /

1. A mass of fine droplets of water in the atmosphere near or in contact with the Earth. Mist reduces visibility to not less than 1 km (0.62 mi).
2. Compare fog

Other Words From

• mistless adjective
• de·mist verb (used with object)
• under·mist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of mist¹

First recorded before 900; (noun) Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch, Low German, Swedish mist; akin to Greek omíchlē “fog,” Russian mgla “mist,” Sanskrit megha “cloud”; (verb) Middle English misten, Old English mistian, derivative of the noun

Origin of mist²

From the Latin word mistūra

Word History and Origins

Origin of mist¹

Old English; related to Middle Dutch, Swedish mist, Greek omikhlē fog

Synonym Study

See cloud.

Example Sentences

Fine mist drips from the crowns of evergreens, through the mosses and down into a layer of fragrant duff that shelters an ecosystem of mycelium, bacterial decomposers, and insect aerators.

From Nautilus

It comes with ten soothing essential oils, including lavender and jasmine, along with an adjustable mist setting.

From Popular-Science

To operate, you pump the sprayer to release a fine mist, which helps spread the oil evenly on your food.

From Popular-Science

When you exercise, sweat doesn’t only accumulate on your skin, but it also flies everywhere—think about the fine mist you release every time you swing a kettlebell.

From Popular-Science

So regions prone to frequent fog and mist — such as San Francisco Bay, mountains or the Arctic — tend to have more fogbows.

From Science News For Students

In this valley so far away from Syria, questions loom like mist drifting off the Caucasus.

From The Daily Beast

The Spire, like most fountains, has the basics -- Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist, Brisk Iced Tea and SoBe Lifewater.

From The Daily Beast

A morning mist hung over everything, clearing occasionally to reveal lone fishermen.

From The Daily Beast

E-cigarettes have never been studied, but inhaling really hot mist into the lung probably will have consequences.

From The Daily Beast

Until 20 minutes before, the mist had completely obscured whatever stood across the plaza at the 9/11 Memorial.

From The Daily Beast

She set off down Trafalgar Road in the mist and the rain, glad that she had been compelled to walk.

From Project Gutenberg

Specimens were easily collected in a mist net placed across the opening.

From Project Gutenberg

For a moment there seemed a sudden light before her eyes, and then a dark mist; in another she recovered herself.

From Project Gutenberg

I have blotted out thy iniquities as a cloud, and thy sins as a mist: return to me, for I have redeemed thee.

From Project Gutenberg

A damp mist rose from the river and the marshy ground about, and spread itself over the dreary fields.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cloud
• dew
• drizzle
• fog
• moisture
• rain
• smog
• steam

About This Word

What else does mist mean?

Content warning: this article references illicit drugs.

A mist is, literally speaking, a cloud of fine liquid droplets, but in slang it can variously refer to drugs and the experience of being on them. Mist can also be an alternative spelling or misspelling of missed.

Where does mist come from?

Recorded in Old English, a mist is a kind of vapor (i.e., small particles of liquid, typically water, suspended in the air or atmosphere). It also commonly refers to weather conditions, like a light fog, or to mist created by such things as spray bottles and haze machines.

Often, though, we talk and write about mist figuratively. Dating all the way back to Old English, mist could describe cloudy eyes … and cloudy minds. If you’re all misty, as another example, your eyes might have a far-away look or be wet with tears.

Mist is also found in alcohol slang, likely due to the misty (or hazy) feelings produced by those substances. In the 1970s, mist was a slang term for the drug phencyclidine, or PCP.

In the 1990s, the smoke from a crack-cocaine pipe was also referred to as mist. By 1995, a strain of marijuana was developed called Kali Mist, known for its uplifting, slightly hallucinogenic properties.

In the 1980s in the UK, the expression Scotch mist was used to refer to someone who was drunk: it rhymes with pissed, a British expression for drunk. It’s also possibly a reference to the real weather condition of Scotch mist, the fog that rolls out across the countryside there.

In the 1990s, Scotch mist was also used in UK slang to refer to someone vanishing. Speaking of Scottish English, mist was once used as a (rare) alternative spelling of the verb missed.

How is mist used in real life?

Mist has largely fallen away as a slang term for PCP or crack smoke. However, Kali Mist remains a strain of marijuana cultivated by growers.

These days, a Scotch mist most often refers to the literal weather phenomenon.

Proper Scotch mist out there. Waiting for a giant hound to bound across the moor *cough* road. pic.twitter.com/gPkISg1l6k

— Scotch Mist (@ScotchMist31) December 24, 2018

But occasionally, getting misted is used as an expression to refer to getting drunk, perhaps as from Canadian Mist whiskey. In UK slang, mist sometimes refers to someone who is really wound-up and energetic.

"If we're gonna get misted, we're gonna get misted" @austinB26 👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/BIOz4ZkLCU

— jennyMUA (@gingarosewood) August 6, 2016

Some folks continue to use, deliberately or by mistake, the homophone mist for missed.

Did you mist me? hehehehe pic.twitter.com/YuxycwFG7T

— Austin Palado (@austinpalladium) November 7, 2017

More examples of mist:

“Kali Mist, a mild, earthy strain famous for its glorious trichomes, is an everyday strain meant to inspire motivation and mental clarity.”
—The Witches of Weedswick, Leafly, August 2018

Note

This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.