From Late Middle English misellen (“to drizzle”), cognate with Low German miseln, musseln (“to mizzle”), Dutch miezelen (“to drizzle, rain gently”). Of obscure origin, possibly a frequentative related to the base of mist; or, related to Middle Low German mes (“urine”), Middle Dutch mes, mis (“urine”), both from Old Saxon mehs (“urine”), from Proto-Germanic *mihstuz, *mihstaz, *mihsk- (“urine”), from *mīganą (“to urinate”), from Proto-Indo-European *meiǵʰ-, *omeiǵʰ- (“to urinate”). Compare also English micturate (“to urinate”), Old Frisian mese (“urine”), Low German miegen (“to urinate”), Dutch mijgen (“to urinate”), Danish mige (“to urinate”).
Meanings
(UK, dialectal, uncountable) Misty rain; drizzle.
(uncountable) A mist; a fine spray; a spattering.
But he knows he need never be in dread
of your blade making a mizzle of his blood
or of vengeance arriving ever from this quarter[.] 1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 20:
When a gawping Byzantine head bounced past his feet, and a mizzle of blood settled upon him, something changed. 2023, Gordon Doherty, Strategos: Island in the Storm, Canelo + ORM:
From Late Middle English misellen (“to drizzle”), cognate with Low German miseln, musseln (“to mizzle”), Dutch miezelen (“to drizzle, rain gently”). Of obscure origin, possibly a frequentative related to the base of mist; or, related to Middle Low German mes (“urine”), Middle Dutch mes, mis (“urine”), both from Old Saxon mehs (“urine”), from Proto-Germanic *mihstuz, *mihstaz, *mihsk- (“urine”), from *mīganą (“to urinate”), from Proto-Indo-European *meiǵʰ-, *omeiǵʰ- (“to urinate”). Compare also English micturate (“to urinate”), Old Frisian mese (“urine”), Low German miegen (“to urinate”), Dutch mijgen (“to urinate”), Danish mige (“to urinate”).
Meanings
(Canada, UK, US, dialectal, intransitive) To rain in very fine drops.
fi tihkuttaa (to rain in fine drops) · gl orballar (to rain in fine drops) · nl miezeren (to rain in fine drops) · es lloviznar (to rain in fine drops) · bg ръмя (to rain in fine drops) · ru мороси́ть (to rain in fine drops)
As long as George IV could reign, he reigned, and then he mizzled. 19th c. Epigram quoted by Thomas Wright (1810 - 1877), reproduced in Webster 1902-1913
1986, Joan Aiken, Dido and Pa http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0618196234&id=MNEhgMsgaIMC&pg=PA232&lpg=PA232&sig=JAfeh2dResB-FcNOuZRJBiu0ISA
“Now you better mizzle,” Dido told him. “Get back to your own quarters, fast.”
“Now you may mizzle, Jemmy (as we say at Court), and if Mr. Copperfield will take the chair I’ll operate on him.” 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:
(intransitive) To yield.
(transitive) To muddle or confuse. (Probably from a misreading of past tense/participle misled.)