56 $ 
M I S 
will plaufibly receive our attempts, or candidly correct 
our mij'conjeilures. Brown's'Vulgar Err ours. 
To MISCONjEC'TURE, v. a. To guefs wrong. 
To MISCONJEC'TURE, v. n. To make a wrong guefs, 
or conjecture.—Many prefling and fawning perfons do 
mifcoujeHure of the humours of men in authority. Bacon. 
MISCONSTRUC'TION, /. [Wrong interpretation of 
words or things.—Thofe words were very weakly inferted 
where they are fo liable to mifconftruClion. Stilling fleet. 
It pleas’d the king his mailer very lately 
To flrike at me upon his mijconftrudion. 
When he conjunct, and flattering his difpleafure, 
Tript me behind. Shakejpeare's K. Lear. 
To MISCON'STRUE, v. a. To interpret wrong.—That 
which by right expofition buildeth up Chriftian faith, be¬ 
ing mijconftrued breedeth errour; between true and falfe 
conltruftion the different realon mull lliow. Hooker. 
Do not, great fir, mijconftrue his-intent, 
Nor call rebellion what was prudent care. 
To guard himfelf by neceffary war. Dryden. 
MISCON'STRUER, f. One who makes a wrong in¬ 
terpretation.—Thofe mjbon/lrucrs are fain to underltand 
[it] of the diflinft notifications. Bp. Hall. 
MISCON'STRUING, f. The aft of conllruing wrong ; 
of mifunderllanding. 
MISCONTEN'FED, ad). Difcontented. Scott. 
MISCONTINUANCE,'/ Ceffation ; mtermiffion. 
MISCOR'D, v.n. To dilagree. Bailey. 
MISCOTH'INS, Indians of North America^ which in¬ 
habit between Lake Michigan and the Mifiiflippi. 
MISCOV'ETING, adj. Coveting that which one ought 
not. 
MISCOV'ETING,/. An unlawful defire. Chaucer. 
To MISCOU'NSEL, v. a. To advife wrong ; 
Every thing that is begun with reafon 
Will come by ready means unto his end, 
But things mifcounfelled mull needs mifwend. Spenfer. 
MISCOU'NSELLING, / The aft of giving bad counfel. 
7 ’o MISCOU NT, v. a. To reckon wrong. 
7 b MISCOU'NT, v.n. To make a falfe reckoning.— 
Thus do all men generally mijeount in the days of then- 
health. Bp. Patrick's Divine Arithmetic. 
MISCOU'NTING, / The aft of counting or reckon¬ 
ing wrong. 
MISCRE'ANCE, or Miscreancy, f. [ mefcreance , or 
meferoiavee, Fr.] Unbelief; falfe faith; adherence to a 
falie religion.-—The more ufual caufes of deprivation are 
murther, man-flaughter, herely, mifcreancy, atheifm, fimo- 
ny. Aiyliffe. 
MIS'CREANT, /. [ mej'creant , Fr.] One that holds a 
falfe faith ; one who believes in falfe gods.-—Thou ought- 
ell not to be flowtlifull to the deftruftion of the myfcre- 
aunts, but to conllreyne them to obeye our Lord God. 
Ld. Iiivcrs's Didcs and Sayings of the Philof. 14.77.—If the 
unbeliever or mijeroyaunte doe departe, let him departe. 
Martin’s Marr. of Priefls, 1554.—Their prophets juftly 
condemned them as an adulterous'feed, and a wicked ge¬ 
neration of mifereants, which had forfalcen the living God. 
Hooker. —A vile wretch. — If extraordinary lenity proves 
inelfieftual, thofe mifereants ought to be made fenlible that 
our conllitution is armed with force. Addifon's Freeholder. 
Now by Apollo, king, 
Thou fwear’ll thy gods in vain. 
O vafial! mifcreanl! Shakcfpcare’s K. Lear. 
MIS'CREATE, or Miscreated, adj. Formed unna¬ 
turally or illegitimately; made as by a blunder of nature : 
Eftloons he took that mifereated fair, 
And that falfe other fipfite, on whom he fpread 
A feeming body of the lubtile air. Spenfer. 
God forbid, my lord, 
That you lhould falhion, wrell, or bow your reading, 
With opening titles mifereate, whole right 
Suits not in native colours with the truth. Shukefpeare. 
M I S 
To MISDA'TE, v. a. To mark with untrue time ; 
In hoary youth Methufalems may die; 
Oh! how mijdated on their flattering tombs ! Young. 
MISDEE'D, f. [inis and deed-, from mipbaib, Sax. mif- 
faded ins, Goth.] Evil aftion.—Evils, which our own mij- 
deeds have wrought. Milton. 
Chas'd from a throne, abandon’d, and exil’d 
For foul mij deeds, were punilhments too mild. Dryden .. 
To MISDEE'M, v. a. To judge ill of; to miltake : 
An enchanter bad 
His fenfe abus’d, and made him to mfldeem 
My loyalty, not fiuch as it did feem. “ Spenfer. 
Befides, were we unchangeable in will, 
And of a wit that nothing could mifcTeem: 
Equal to God, whole wifdom Ihineth Hill 
And never errs, we might ourlelves elteem. Davies* 
MISDEE'MING,/. The aft of miltaking; of judging 
amifs. Miltake : 
To wreake on worthleffe wight 
Your high difpleafure through inf deeming' bred. Spenfer* 
To MISDEME'AN, v. a. To behave ill: 
From want of w-ifdom, you, that bell lhould teach us, 
HaVe mifllemean'd yourlelf. Shaliefpeare's Henry VIII. 
MISDEME'ANING, / The aft of behaving amifs. 
MISDEME'ANOUR, / Offence ; ill behaviour; fome- 
thing lefs than an atrocious crime.—The houfe of com¬ 
mons have only power to cen-fure the members of then- 
own houfe, in point of election or mifdemeanours, in or 
towards that houfe. Bacon. —It is no real dilgrace to the 
church merely to lole her privileges, but to forfeit them 
by her fault or mijdemeanour. South. —Mifmanagement. 
Not in ufe. —Never was there any fterility, whereof there 
may not be a caufe given ; either fome natural fault in 
the foil, or mifdemeanure of the owners. Seafunable Sermons. 
Misdemeanour, in law, a crime lefs than felony. The 
term mifdemeanour is generally ufed in contradillinftion 
to felony, and comprehends all indictable offences which 
do not amount to felony ; as perjury, libels, conlpiracies, 
aflaults, See. 4 Comm. p. 5. 
A crime or mifdemeanour, fays Blackltone, is an aft 
committed or omitted, in violation of a public law, either 
forbidding or commanding it. This general definition 
comprehends both crimes and mifdemeanours; which, pro¬ 
perly lpeaking, are mere lynonymous terms ; though in 
common ulage, the word crime is made to denote fiuch 
offences as are of a deeper and more atrocious dye ; while 
fmaller faults, and omiifions of lefs confequence, are com- 
priled under the gentler name of mifdemeanours only. 
This term may be confidered as, and in faft is, a genus, 
which contains under it a great number otjper.ies, almolt 
as various in their nature as human actions. See Hale’s 
and Hawkins’s Pleas of the Crown ; and the article Mis¬ 
prision. 
Hig'h crimes and mifdemeanours denote offences of a hei¬ 
nous nature, next to high treafon. 
To MISDEPA'RT, v. a. Obfolete. To part wrong ; to 
diflribute amifs. Chaucer. 
To MISDERI'VE, v. a. To turn or apply improperly. 
— Mifderiving- the well-meant devotions of charitable 
and pious fouls into wrong channels. Bp. Hall's Cafes of 
Confcienee. 
MISDESER'T, f. Ill deferving : 
My haplefs cafe 
Is not occafion’d through my mifdefect. Spenfer. 
MISDEVO'TION, J’. Mistaken piety.—The vanity, fu- 
perflition, and mijdevotion, of which place, was alcandal far 
and near. Milton's Eicon. 
A place, where mijdevotion frames 
A- thouland prayers to laints, wlvofe very names 
The church knew not, heav’n knows not yet. Donne . 
MISDEED, 
