Verb from Middle English missen, from Old English missan (“to miss, escape the notice of a person”), from Proto-West Germanic *missijan, from Proto-Germanic *missijaną (“to miss, go wrong, fail”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to change, exchange, trade”). Cognate with West Frisian misse (“to miss”), Dutch missen (“to miss”), German missen (“to miss”), Norwegian Bokmål and Danish miste (“to lose”), Swedish missa (“to miss”), Norwegian Nynorsk, Icelandic missa (“to lose”) and Latin mittere (“to send, let go”). Noun from Middle English misse, mis, from Old English miss (“loss, absence”), from Proto-West Germanic *miss, from Proto-Germanic *miss- (“loss”). Cognate with Scots miss (“a loss, want, cause of grief or mourning”), Middle High German misse, mis (“lack, missing, absence”), Icelandic missir (“loss”). Related also to Scots mis (“wrongdoing, sin, guilt”), Dutch mis (“misdeed, wrongdoing, mistake”), Middle Low German misse (“sin, wrong”).
Ambitransitive, Physical To fail to hit, catch, grasp, etc.
I fired the gun, but the bullet missed the target.
I tried to kick the ball, but missed.
3 more examples
She tried to grab hold of the end of the rope, but she missed.
Men observe when things hit, and not when they miss.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
Flying bullets now, To execute his rage, appear too slow; They miss, or sweep but common souls away.1666, Edmund Waller, "Instructions to a Painter:
The driver swerved and just managed to miss the chicken crossing the road.
3
To fail to achieve or attain.
The company missed all its sales targets.
When a man misses his great end, happiness, he will acknowledge he judged not right.1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:
4
To fail to experience, attend, partake, take advantage of, etc.
Joe missed the meeting this morning.
I usually watch the Oscars Ceremonies, but I missed it this year.
4 more examples
I'm starving! I missed breakfast this morning.
I only left the queue for a moment and now I've missed my turn.
This offer is too good to miss.
to miss an opportunity, to miss a chance
5
To avoid or escape.
The car just missed hitting a passer-by.
We missed disaster by the skin of our teeth.
6
To become aware of the loss or absence of; to feel the want or need of, sometimes with regret; to feel sadness at the absence of somebody or something.
I miss you! Come home soon!
I miss going for walks along the beach.
4 more examples
I'm not going to the party, but I don't think I'll be missed.
I had left my wallet at home, but I only missed it when I got to the metro.
[…] what by me thou haſt loſt thou leaſt ſhalt miſs.1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 58:
The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits. He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. Nobody would miss them, he explained.1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter I, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC:
7
To fail to understand.
to miss the joke
8
To fail to notice; to have a shortcoming of perception; overlook.
So I'm just going over my early notes, see if I missed anything.
9
To be too late to connect with or meet something or someone (a means of transportation, a deadline, etc.).
I missed the plane!
"Is Polly still here?" — "No, sorry, you've just missed her. She left a couple of minutes ago."
1 more example
And we can't afford to miss the train back, as the next one is at 0704 tomorrow...2025 March 5, “Ayr miles with a 'Spirit of Scotland'”, in RAIL, number 1030, page 45:
10
To be wanting; to lack something that should be present (see also adjectival missing).
Mostly continuous tenses
The car is missing essential features.
This jigsaw is missing several pieces.
11
Slang To spare someone of something unwanted or undesirable.
African-American Vernacular
Miss me with that nonsense!
12
Card games, PokerSaid of a card To fail to help the hand of a player.
Player A: J7. Player B: Q6. Table: 283. The flop missed both players!
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Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports To fail to score (a goal).
Georgia, ranked 16th in the world, dominated the breakdown before half-time and forced England into a host of infringements, but fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili missed three penalties.2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport:
Emongst the Angels, a whole legione / Of wicked Sprights did fall from happy blis; / What wonder then, if one of women all did mis?1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 2:
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act PROLOGUE, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:
A form of address, now used chiefly for an unmarried woman; used chiefly of girls before the mid-1700s, and thereafter used also of adult women without regard to marital status.
Mrs. Gardiner would be happy to see Miss March and Miss Josephine at a little dance on New-Year's-Eve.1869, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women:
2
With a surname.
These are the two young ladies that I wanted you to meet, Miss Jones and Miss Robinson.
Excuse me Ma'am, will Miss Julia and Miss Emily be staying for tea?
She was so mad she wouldn't speak to me for quite a spell, but at last I coaxed her into going up to Miss Emmeline's room and fetching down a tintype of the missing Deacon man.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VI, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
A form of address for a female teacher or a waitress.
Excuse me, Miss, Donny's been pinching my pencils again.
7
Used in title of the (female) winner of a beauty contest, or certain other types of contest, prefixing the country or other region that she represents, or the category of contest.
Ladies and gentlemen, please give a round of applause to our lovely new Miss Yorkshire!
And I can now announce that this year's Miss Personality is ... Doris Miggins!
8
Derogatory, Often, Sarcastic Used in a mock title to point out some quality, or alleged quality, of a girl or woman.
Verb from Middle English missen, from Old English missan (“to miss, escape the notice of a person”), from Proto-West Germanic *missijan, from Proto-Germanic *missijaną (“to miss, go wrong, fail”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to change, exchange, trade”). Cognate with West Frisian misse (“to miss”), Dutch missen (“to miss”), German missen (“to miss”), Norwegian Bokmål and Danish miste (“to lose”), Swedish missa (“to miss”), Norwegian Nynorsk, Icelandic missa (“to lose”) and Latin mittere (“to send, let go”). Noun from Middle English misse, mis, from Old English miss (“loss, absence”), from Proto-West Germanic *miss, from Proto-Germanic *miss- (“loss”). Cognate with Scots miss (“a loss, want, cause of grief or mourning”), Middle High German misse, mis (“lack, missing, absence”), Icelandic missir (“loss”). Related also to Scots mis (“wrongdoing, sin, guilt”), Dutch mis (“misdeed, wrongdoing, mistake”), Middle Low German misse (“sin, wrong”).
"I ran from one place to another, and as it was not difficult to get a shot at him, I fired several times, but only made miss after miss."1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 76:
2
A failure to obtain or accomplish something; a failure to succeed.
After four top-ten singles, the band's next release was a miss.
Your answer isn't exactly right, but it's a very close miss.
1 more example
Jones put the penalty shot over the bar — what a terrible miss.
3
An act of avoidance (usually used with the verb give).
I think I’ll give the meeting a miss.
4
Informal Someone or something whose loss or absence is felt.
Top striker Smith is out injured and will be a big miss for United.
5
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences The situation where an item is not found in a cache and therefore needs to be explicitly loaded.
Already we're seeing fewer cache misses by avoiding creating cache entries for the idle task and expect to see even fewer with changes to the TLB reload code to uncache the page tables.1999, Proceedings of the Third Symposium on Operating Systems:
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Ball games, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Snooker, Sports A foul shot that fails to hit the target ball, where the player has, in the referee's judgement, not made every effort to play a legal shot; in addition to conceding points for the foul, the player can be made to play the shot again.
Alternative Alternative spelling of Miss when used as a term of address or title of respect.
You may sit here, miss.
The dog ate my homework, miss.
2
An unmarried woman; a girl.
While thus the fiends, with wily art, Adroitly stole upon the heart, And with their complaisance, and tales, Had ruind more than half the males, Gay Vanity, with smiles, and kisses, Was busy 'mongst the maids, and misses.1771, James Cawthorn, Poems, by the Rev. Mr. Cawthorn, Late Master of Tunbridge School:
3
A kept woman; a mistress.
courting a Miss1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:
4
Card games, Games In the game of three-card loo, an extra hand, dealt on the table, which may be substituted for the hand dealt to a player.