adv., pred. a., and sb. Forms: 3 a mis, 4 a mysse, 4–5 a mys, (4 of mys, 5 of mysse, on mys), 3–6 amys, 5–6 amysse, 6–7 amisse, 7– amiss. [prop. phrase, A prep.1 of manner + MISS sb. failure, deficiency, shortcoming.]
A. adv., gen. sign. Away from the mark, not up to the mark, out of course, out of order.
1. Erroneously, in a way that goes astray of, or misses its object.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1363. Ȝif me hit wile turne a mis.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 164. Þei red him alle a mysse, þat conseil gaf þerto.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., III. xi. 100. False proposiciouns that goon amys fro the trouthe.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxliv. 298. Our Archyers shet neuer arowe amys.
1535. Coverdale, Job xxxiv. 32. Yf I haue gone amysse [Wyclif errid], enfourme me.
1627. May, Lucan, II. 439. Phæton amisse did guide The day.
1755. Young, Centaur, iii. Wks. 1757, IV. 182. If he judges amiss in the supreme point.
1827. Keble, Chr. Year, Easter Day. Your wisdom guides amiss To seek on earth a Christian’s bliss.
2. Faultily, defectively; in a way that falls short of its object, or with which fault may be found.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Manc. T., 145. ‘By God,’ quod he, ‘I synge not amys.’
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. II. 174. Þe same mesure þat ȝe meteþ · amys oþer ellys.
1579. News fr. North, in Thynne’s Animadv., Pref. 133. I am sure I cannot be lodged amisse in this house.
1654. Gataker, Disc. Apol., 49. The Doctor … had miscarried in his suit by joining issu amiss.
1846. Keble, Lyra Innoc. (1873), 67. That widow poor Who only offered not amiss.
3. Hence, euphem. Wrongly, in a wrong way.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 4103. Rayner, þou spekest al amys.
c. 1450. Merlin, i. 5. Ye sey amysse, for god hateth no creature.
1550. Crowley, Epigr., 682. For doubtlesse those goodes are gotten amisse.
1633. G. Herbert, Self-Condemn., ii. in Temple, 165. He that doth love, and love amisse This world’s delights before true Christian joy.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Briery Creek, vi. 123. He was therefore apt to see wrong, and speak amiss, and do the very reverse of what he ought to do.
4. To come or happen amiss: to come or happen out of order, untowardly, or contrary to one’s wishes or expectations.
1646. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), I. 252. Sometimes we shot at fowls and other birds: nothing came amiss.
1836. Johnsoniana, I. 75. He chatted gaily … as if nothing had happened amiss.
1857. Buckle, Civiliz., vi. 282. Nothing came amiss to their greedy and credulous ears.
5. To do, deal, or act amiss: to act erroneously, to err; euphem. to do wrong.
1297. R. Glouc., 54. My neuew, þat a lytel dude amys.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. of Fame, 269. A woman dothe amys To loue hym that vnknowe ys.
c. 1400. Deo Gracias (Turnb., 1843), 162. Amende that thou has done of mysse.
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 279. When ony mon dude on mys.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. cv. 6. We haue synned with oure fathers, we haue done amysse.
1612. Dekker, If it be not good, 313. Looke not to prosper, if thou dealst amisse.
1792. Anecd. Pitt, I. iv. 60. We are convinced that something has been done amiss.
1870. Bryant, Homer, I. II. 44. And soon will punish those who act amiss.
6. To take (a thing) amiss: orig. to miss its meaning, mistake (i.e. (a)miss-take); now, to misinterpret its motive or to interpret it in a bad sense, to take offence at.
c. 1380. Wyclif, 3 Treat., i. 18. Þis dreem takun a mys turneþ upsedoun þe chirche.
c. 1538. Starkey, England, i. 9. You take the mater amys.
1638. Chillingworth, Relig. Prot., I. i. § 5. 33. So might we justly take it amisse, that … you are not more willing to consider us.
1780. Johnson, Lett., 238, II. 139. You … therefore cannot take it amiss that I have never written.
1865. Trollope, Belton Estate, iii. 26. You will not take it amiss if I take a cousin’s privilege.
b. So, To think amiss.
1635. Swan, Spec. Mund., v. § 2 (1643), 133. To think otherwise were to think amisse.
1702. Pope, Jan. & May, 809. None judge so wrong as those who think amiss.
1714. Fortescue-Aland, Fortescue’s Abs. & Lim. Mon., Ded. 3. I am persuaded, he would not think amiss of my conduct.
1770. Goldsm., Haunch Ven., 123. So, perhaps, in your habits of thinking amiss, You may make a mistake, and think slightly of this.
B. quasi-adj. [In construction with vb. to be, amiss, which properly belongs to the vb., is referred to the subject, and treated as an adj.; and hence extended to more distinct adjectival constructions. Cf. matters went far amiss; matters were somewhat amiss; I found matters amiss; it would not be amiss to do so. Never used attrib.]
1. Out of order: not in accord with the recognized good order of morality, society, custom, nature, bodily health, etc. etc.; deficient, faulty.
c. 1315. Shoreham, 144. Ȝef he … couthe and dede hyȝt nouȝt, Hyt were a-mys.
1473. Warkw., Chron., 12. He schulde … amende alle manere of thynges that was amysse.
1580. Sidney, Arcadia, II. (1590), 223. Saying still the world was amisse.
1605. Shaks., Macb., II. iii. 102. Don. What is amisse? Macb. You are, and doe not know ’t.
1754. Richardson, Grandison, IV. ii. 19. I hear something very much amiss of this man.
1871. Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., III. ii. 625. The taste is nearly always amiss in illness.
2. esp. negatively, Not amiss: not beside the mark, not improper, quite in keeping with the object in view.
1513. More, Edw. V., Ded. I have thought it not amisse to put to my helping hand.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xlii. 314. It will not be amisse to lay open the Consequences.
1756. Burke, Subl. & B., Wks. I. 180. However it may not be amiss to add to these remarks.
1778. Johnson, Lett., 198, II. 41. It is good to speak dubiously about futurity. It is likewise not amiss to hope.
1855. Tennyson, Maud, I. XIX. 82. Kind to Maud? That were not amiss.
b. Of the quality of objects.
1860. Hawthorne, Marble Faun (1879), II. xxiv. 243. She was not amiss … but her companion was far the handsomer figure. Ibid. (1860), I. xxiii. 253. As an angel, you are not amiss.
† C. sb. [The adv. or adj. used subst. quasi ‘a doing amiss’ or ‘a thing which is amiss’; perhaps partly due to formal confusion between a miss ‘an error,’ and a-miss ‘in error.’] An error, fault or misdeed; hence euphem. an evil deed. Obs.
1477. Norton, Ord. Alch., in Ashm. (1652), v. 65. Without amisse.
1590. Lodge, Gold. Leg., in Halliw., Shaks., VI. 43. He [shall] receive meed for his amisse.
1602. Shaks., Haml., IV. v. 18. Each toy seemes Prologue, to some great amisse.
1643. Actors’ Remonstr. (1869), 265. We will … reforme all our disorders, and amend all our amisses.
c. 1700. Rich. II., in Evans, Old Bal. (1784), No. 410. 300. The nobles of England their prince’s amiss, By parliament soon did rebate.
