Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
misfall en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈmɪsfɔːl/
- (Southern-England) audio
- (Southern-England) audio
- /mɪsˈfɔːl/
Etymology
From Middle English misfallen, equivalent to mis- + fall. Cognate with Dutch misvallen (“to misfall, miss in falling, displease, miscarry”), German missfallen (“to displease”), Icelandic misfalla (“to misuse”).
Meanings
-
A mishap; accident; bad luck; misfortune.
But alas! an unlooked- for misfall has occurred."
1875, Julian Hawthorne, Saxon studies:
Forms
misfall en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /mɪsˈfɔːl/
Etymology
From Middle English misfallen, equivalent to mis- + fall. Cognate with Dutch misvallen (“to misfall, miss in falling, displease, miscarry”), German missfallen (“to displease”), Icelandic misfalla (“to misuse”).
Meanings
-
(ambitransitive) To befall badly or incorrectly; happen unfortunately (to); mishappen; turn out badly.
Sometime ſhe feared, leaſt ſome hard miſhap / Had him misfalne in his aduenturous queſt; [...]
1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 257:[...] let us abide together that, one with the counsel and that other with the deed, then may there nothing misfall to usward.
1889, Henry Morley, Early prose romances:However, the principal and his students worked hard, and they soon had the buildings in shape for use and the farm doing as well as possible. Then a terrible misfortune misfell one of the neighbors who was most bitter in his tirades.
2009, Eric B. Hare, Skyscrapers:
Forms