missing 
missingt (mis'ing), n. [(. ME. myssyng; verbal 
u. of miss 1 , v.] Want ; lack. 
Of rayrthe neuermore to haue myssyng. 
York Plays, p. 8. 
missing (mis'ing), p. a. Not present or not 
found ; absent ; gone. 
If by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for 
Ms. 1 Ki. xx. 39. 
And for a time caught up to God, as once 
Moses was in the mount, and musing long. 
Milton, P. R., ii. 15. 
Missing link. See Knti . 
mis-singt, . t. and . [< mis- 1 + sing.] To sing 
amiss. Richardson. 
Now, sileer [WernockJ, thou hast split the marke, 
Albe that I ne wot I han mis-song. 
W. Browne, Young Willie and Old Wernock. 
missingly (mis'ing-li), adv. So as to miss or feel 
the absence of something. [Bare.] 
I have missingly noted he is of late much retired from 
court. Shalt., W. T., Iv. 2. 85. 
mission (mish'on), u. [< F. mission, a send- 
ing, a mission," OF. mission, expense. = Sp. 
mision = Pg. missdo = It. missions = D. missie 
= Gr. Dan. Sw. mission, a mission, < L. mis- 
sio(n-), a sending, sending away, despatching, 
discharging, release, remission, cessation, < 
mittere, send. The E. words derived from the 
L. mittere are numerous, e. g. admit, amift, com- 
mit, compromit, demit, emit, intermit, omit, per- 
mit, pretermit, remit, submit, transmit, etc., 
mise 1 , compromise, demise, dismiss, premise, pre- 
miss, promise, surmise, admission, commission 1 , 
dismission, etc., commissary, emissary, promis- 
sory, etc., mass 2 , etc., mess 1 , message, messen- 
ger, missile, mission, missionary, missive, etc., 
with numerous secondary derivatives.] 1. A 
sending of an agent or a messenger ; a charge 
given to go and perform some service ; delega- 
tion for a specific duty or purpose : as, to be 
sent on a mission to a foreign government, or 
to the heathen. 
Whose glorious deeds, but in these fields of late, 
Made emulous missions 'mongst the gods themselves. 
Shalt., T. and C., iii. 3. 189. 
They never enquired whether the Miracle were wrought 
or no, or whether their Doctrine were true ; all their Ques- 
tion was about their Mission, whether it were ordinary or 
extraordinary. StUlingfleet, Sermons, II. i. 
2. That for which one is sent or commissioned ; 
the power conferred or duty imposed on an 
envoy or messenger; a delegated business or 
function; an errand. 
Hast thou perform'd my mission which I gave? 
Tennyson, Morte d'Arthur. 
Hence 3. That for which a person or thing 
is destined or designed; predestined function; 
determinate purpose or object. 
How to begin, how to accomplish best 
His end of being on earth, and mission high. 
Milton, P. R., ii. 114. 
The ardour and perseverance with which he [William of 
Orange] devoted himself to his mission have scarcely any 
parallel in history. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vli. 
Miss Wisk's mission . . . was to show the world that 
woman's mission was man's mission; and that the only 
genuine mission of both man and woman was to be al- 
ways moving declaratory resolutions about things in gen- 
eral at public meetings. Dickens, Bleak House, xxx. 
What if it be the mission of that age 
My death will usher into life, to shake 
This torpor of assurance from our creed? 
Browning, Ring and Book, II. 224. 
4. An organized effort for the spread of reli- 
gion, or for the enlightenment and elevation of 
some community or region ; organized mission- 
ary effort ; religious propagandism : as, Chris- 
tian missions; the home and foreign missions 
of the Presbyterian Church; domestic missions; 
the city mission. 5. In the Roman Catholic and 
Anglican churches, a series of special religious 
services organized to quicken the piety of Chris- 
tians and convert the impenitent. The person 
appointed to conduct such a mission is termed 
a missioner. 6. A particular field of mission- 
ary activity ; a missionary post or station, or 
the body of missionaries established there ; a 
center of organized missionary effort or of reli- 
gious propagandism; specifically, in the Roman 
Catholic Church, the district assigned to a mis- 
sionary priest. 7. The office or establishment 
of a foreign envoy j the charge or post of an 
ambassador ; a foreign legation : as, the mission 
to Persia ; the members of the British mission at 
Washington. 8f. Dismission; discharge from 
service. 
In Csssar's army, somewhat the soldiers would have had, 
yet only demanded a mission or discharge. 
Bacon, Apophthegms. 
= Syn. 2. Office, duty, charge, embassy. 
3798 
mission (mish'on), v. t. [< mission, n.] To send 
on a mission; commission. Southey. [Rare.] 
Lamia, regal, drest, 
Silently paced about, and, as she went, . . . 
Mission'd her viewless servants to enrich 
The fretted splendour of each nook and niche. 
Seats, Lamia, ii. 
missionary (mish'on-a-ri), a. and . [= F. 
missionnaire = Sp. misionario, misionero = Pg. 
missionario, missionar = It. missionario, mis- 
sionary, a missionary, < ML. missionaries, per- 
taining to a mission, < L. missio(n-), a mission: 
see mission.'] I. a. Relating or pertaining to 
missions, especially Christian missions ; proper 
to one sent on a mission ; characteristic of a 
propagandist : as, a missionary society or meet- 
ing; missionary funds; missionary work; mis- 
sionary zeal or energy Missionary bishop, abish- 
op having jurisdiction in a heathen country, or in districts 
newly settled or not yet erected into dioceses. Mission- 
ary bishops of the Church of England are commonly 
called colonial bishops, whether their jurisdictions are in 
British colonies or not. In most of the British colonies, 
however, the bishops are diocesan. 
II. n.; pi. missionaries (-riz). 1. One who is 
sent upon a mission ; an envoy or messenger. 
Through the transparent region of the skies, 
Swift as a wish, the missionary flies. 
Qarth, Dispensary, iv. 
2. Specifically, a person sent by ecclesiastical 
authority to labor for the propagation of his 
religious faith in a community where his church 
has no self-supporting indigenous organization ; 
hence, any propagandist. 
The Presbyterian missionary, who hath been persecuted 
for his religion. Swift. 
The armies mustered in the North were as much mis- 
sionaries to the mind of the country as they were carriers 
of materials. Emerson, Soldiers' Monument, Concord. 
missioner (mish'on-er), n. [< mission + -er 1 . 
Cf. missionary.] 1. One sent on a mission; an 
envoy. 
And these the missioners our zeal has made. 
Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 565. 
2. A missionary. 
For the Missioners living here [in Tonquin] are purpose- 
ly skill'd in mending Clocks, Watches, or some Mathe- 
matical Instruments, of which the country people are 
ignorant. Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 96. 
When . . . the first European missioner entered China, 
the court was informed that he possessed great skill in 
astronomy. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, civ. 
Ricci died [at Pekin] in 1610, but was succeeded by mis- 
sioners not less able and zealous. Cath. Diet., p. 478. 
3. One engaged in holding special religious 
services at a chapel or other place appendant 
to and supported by a mother church or reli- 
gious society ; specifically, in the Roman Cath- 
olic and Anglican churches, a priest or member 
of a religious order devoted to the holding of 
missions. See mission, n., 5. 
There was an interesting discussion on special mission 
services ; some advocating mission preaching, and preach- 
ers being set apart for this work. . . . Every pastor should 
be a missioner, and aim at conversions. 
Congregalionalist, June 11, 1885. 
mission-rooms (mish'on-romz), n. pi. Rooms 
where missionary work is carried on. 
He recommends children's services and Eucharists, en- 
couragement of healthy and innocent amusements, the 
multiplication of mission-rooms in squalid districts. 
Quarterly Rev., CXLV. 57. 
mission-school (mish'on-skol), n. 1. An in- 
stitution for the training of missionaries. 2. 
A school for religious and sometimes secular 
instruction, either (a) intended to provide for 
the poorer classes and supported in whole or in 
part by charity, or (6) conducted by missionary 
agents in a foreign field. 
missis, missus (mis'iz, -uz), n. [A contracted 
form of mistress.'] 1. Mistress: a contracted 
form in colloquial or provincial use. The word 
thus contracted is spelled out chiefly in representations 
of vulgar speech ; but as a title it is in universal spoken 
use in the form *missess or rather 'misses (mis'ez), and is 
almost invariably written Mrs. See mistress. 
Mr. Harding and Mr. Arabin had all quarrelled with 
missus for having received a letter from Mr. Slope. 
Trollope, Barchester Towers, xxxii. 
2. A wife. [Dial, and colloq.] 
"You old booby," Rebecca said [to her husband], . . . 
"beseech is not spelt with an a, and earliest is." So he 
altered these words, bowing to the superior knowledge of 
his little Missis. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxv. 
missish (mis'ish), o. [< miss 2 + -isli 1 .] Like 
a miss ; prim ; affected ; lackadaisical. 
You are not going to be missish, I hope, and pretend to 
be affronted at an idle report. 
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Ivii. 
missishness (mis'ish-nes), . Affectation of 
the airs of a young miss ; primness ; silly affec- 
tation. 
misspeak 
I have lost him by my own want of decision my own 
miiswhness rather, in liking to have lovers in order to 
teaze them. T. Hook, All in the Wrong, ii. (Encyc. Viet.) 
Mississippi (mis-i-sip'i), n. [So called from the 
river or State of that name.] An old game, 
similar to bagatelle, in which balls are struck 
by a cue into pockets at one end of a table, and 
the players score according to the number above 
that pocket into which a ball is struck. Strutt. 
Mississippian (mis-i-sip'i-an), a. and n. [< 
Mississippi (see def.) + -an.] I. a. Of or per- 
taining to the State of Mississippi or the rivet- 
Mississippi. 
II. n. A native or an inhabitant of Mississippi, 
one of the Gulf States of the United States. 
missitt (mis-sit'), v. i. [ME. missitten ; < mis- 1 
+ sit.] To be unbecoming. 
Boon nor brekke 
Nas ther non seen that myssat. 
Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 941. 
missive (mis'iv), o. and n. [< F. missif (fern. 
missive, n., orig. and now only as adj., in lettre 
missive, a letter missive) = Pr. missiu = Sp. 
misivo = Pg. It. missivo, < ML. missivus, sent, 
for sending, fern. sing, or neut. pi. missiva, a 
letter sent, < L. mittere, pp. missus^, send: see 
mission.] L. a. 1. Sent or proceeding, as from 
some authoritative or official source. 
To write your letters missive, and send out 
Your privy seals. B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, iii. 1. 
2f. Thrown or hurled; missile. 
Part hidden veins digg'd up, ... 
Whereof to found their engines and their balls 
Of missi ix ruin. Milton, P. L., vi. 619. 
Letter missive. See letter^. 
II. n. 1. That which is sent; specifically, a 
written message; a letter; especially, in Scots 
law, a letter interchanged between parties, in 
which the one party offers to enter into a con- 
tract on certain conditions, and the other party 
accepts the offer, completing the contract. 2f. 
A person sent; a messenger. 
You 
Did pocket up my letters, and with taunts 
Did gibe my missive out of audience. 
Shak., A. and C., ii. 2. 72. 
Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives 
from the king, who all-hailed me "Thane of Cawdor." 
Shak., Macbeth, i. 6. 7. 
Miss-Nancy (mis ' nan ' si), n. An affectedly 
prim young person of either sex ; an effeminate 
young man. [Colloq.] 
The milksops and Miss Nancys among the young men 
didn't come [into the " oil country " of Pennsylvania]. 
Philadelphia Times, July 2, 1883. 
Miss-Nancyism (mis'nan'si-izm), n. [< Miss- 
Nancy + -ism.] Affected nicety or primness; 
fussiness about trifles ; effeminacy. [Colloq.] 
Ineffable silliness, sneering at the demand for honesty 
in politics as Miss Naneyism. 
Harper's Weekly, March 20, 1886. 
Missourian (mi-so'ri-an), a. and n. [< Missouri 
(see def. ) + -an.] I. a. Of or pertaining to the 
State of Missouri or the river Missouri. 
II. n. A native or an inhabitant of Missouri, 
one of the United States west of the Missis- 
sippi and south of Iowa. 
Missouri compromise. See compromise. 
Missouri currant. See Kibes. 
Missouri hyacinth. See hyacinth, 2. 
Missouri sucker. See Cycleptus. 
missoy-bark (mis'oi-bark), n. [Also massoy- 
bark; < missoy or massoy, a native name (?), + 
E. bark 2 .] The bark of a species of cinnamon, 
Cinnamomum Burmanni, var. Kiamis, found in 
New Guinea and the Papuan Islands. It yields 
an aromatic oil, and is said to be used in Japan 
in the form of a powder. 
misspeak (mis-spek'), v. ; pret. misspoke (for- 
merly misspake), pp. misspoken (sometimes mis- 
spoke), ppr. misspeaking. [< ME. misspekcn ; < 
mis- 1 + speak.] I. intrans. If. To speak wrong- 
ly or improperly. 
Now I me repent* 
If I misspake. Chaucer, Troilus, i. 934. 
It is not so ; thou hast misspoke, misheard. 
Shak., K. John, iii. 1. 4. 
2f. To speak disrespectfully or disparagingly : 
with of. 
Who but mis-speaks of Thee, he spets at Heav'n. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Decay. 
II. trans. 1. To speak or pronounce wrong- 
ly ; utter imperfectly. 
Then as a mother which delights to heare 
Her early childe mis-speake half-utter'd words. 
Donne, Poems, p. 177. 
2. To express improperly or imperfectly; speak 
otherwise than according to one's intention: 
