Misemploy transitive verb To employ amiss; as, to misemploy time, advantages, talents, etc.

Their frugal father's gains they misemploy .

Dryden.

Misemployment noun Wrong or mistaken employment. Johnson.

Misenter transitive verb To enter or insert wrongly, as a charge in an account.

Misentreat transitive verb To treat wrongfully. [ Obsolete] Grafton.

Misentry noun An erroneous entry or charge, as of an account.

Miser (mī"zẽr) noun [ Latin miser wretched, miserable; confer Greek mi^sos hate, misei^n to hate: confer Italian & Spanish misero wretched, avaricious.]

1. A wretched person; a person afflicted by any great misfortune. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

The woeful words of a miser now despairing.

Sir P. Sidney.

2. A despicable person; a wretch. [ Obsolete] Shak.

3. A covetous, grasping, mean person; esp., one having wealth, who lives miserably for the sake of saving and increasing his hoard.

As some lone miser , visiting his store,
Bends at his treasure, counts, recounts it o'er.

Goldsmith.

4. A kind of large earth auger. Knight.

Miserable adjective [ French misérable , Latin miserabilis , from miserari to lament, pity, from miser wretched. See Miser .]

1. Very unhappy; wretched.

What hopes delude thee, miserable man?

Dryden.

2. Causing unhappiness or misery.

What 's more miserable than discontent?

Shak.

3. Worthless; mean; despicable; as, a miserable fellow; a miserable dinner.

Miserable comforters are ye all.

Job xvi. 2.

4. Avaricious; niggardly; miserly. [ Obsolete] Hooker.

Syn. -- Abject; forlorn; pitiable; wretched.

Miserable noun A miserable person. [ Obsolete] Sterne.

Miserableness noun The state or quality of being miserable.

Miserably adverb In a miserable; unhappily; calamitously; wretchedly; meanly.

They were miserably entertained.

Sir P. Sidney.

The fifth was miserably stabbed to death.

South.

Miseration noun Commiseration. [ Obsolete]

Miserere noun [ Latin , have mercy, from misereri to have mercy, from miser . See Miser .]

1. (R. C. Ch.) The psalm usually appointed for penitential acts, being the 50th psalm in the Latin version. It commences with the word miserere .

2. A musical composition adapted to the 50th psalm.

Where only the wind signs miserere .

Lowell.

3. (Architecture) A small projecting boss or bracket, on the under side of the hinged seat of a church stall (see Stall ). It was intended, the seat being turned up, to give some support to a worshiper when standing. Called also misericordia .

4. (Medicine) Same as Ileus .

Misericorde noun [ French miséricorde . See Misericordia .]

1. Compassion; pity; mercy. [ Obsolete]

2. (Anc. Armor.) Same as Misericordia , 2.

Misericordia noun [ Latin , mercy, compassion; miser wretched + cor , cordis , heart.]

1. (O. Law) An amercement. Burrill.

2. (Anc. Armor.) A thin-bladed dagger; so called, in the Middle Ages, because used to give the death wound or "mercy" stroke to a fallen adversary.

3. (Eccl.) An indulgence as to food or dress granted to a member of a religious order. Shipley.

Miserly (mī"zẽr*lȳ) adjective [ From Miser .] Like a miser; very covetous; sordid; niggardly.

Syn. -- Avaricious; niggardly; sordid; parsimonious; penurious; covetous; stingy; mean. See Avaricious .

Misery noun ; plural Miseries . [ Middle English miserie , Latin miseria , from miser wretched: confer French misère , Old French also, miserie .]

1. Great unhappiness; extreme pain of body or mind; wretchedness; distress; woe. Chaucer.

Destruction and misery are in their ways.

Rom. iii. 16.

2. Cause of misery; calamity; misfortune.

When we our betters see bearing our woes,
We scarcely think our miseries our foes.

Shak.

3. Covetousness; niggardliness; avarice. [ Obsolete]

Syn. -- Wretchedness; torture; agony; torment; anguish; distress; calamity; misfortune.

Misesteem noun [ Confer French mésestime .] Want of esteem; disrespect. Johnson.

Misestimate transitive verb To estimate erroneously. J. S. Mill.

Misexplanation noun An erroneous explanation.

Misexplication noun Wrong explication.

Misexposition noun Wrong exposition.

Misexpound transitive verb To expound erroneously.

Misexpression noun Wrong expression.

Misfaith noun Want of faith; distrust. "[ Anger] born of your misfaith ." Tennyson.

Misfall transitive verb [ imperfect Misfell ; past participle Misfallen ; present participle & verbal noun Misfalling .] To befall, as ill luck; to happen to unluckily. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Misfare intransitive verb [ Anglo-Saxon misfaran .] To fare ill. [ Obsolete] -- noun Misfortune. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Misfashion transitive verb To form wrongly.

Misfeasance noun [ Old French prefix mes- wrong (L. minus less) + faisance doing, from faire to do, Latin facere . Confer Malfeasance .] (Law) A trespass; a wrong done; the improper doing of an act which a person might lawfully do. Bouvier. Wharton.

Misfeature noun Ill feature. [ R.] Keats.

Misfeeling adjective Insensate. [ Obsolete] Wyclif.

Misfeign intransitive verb To feign with an evil design. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Misfit noun
1. The act or the state of fitting badly; as, a misfit in making a coat; a ludicrous misfit .

2. Something that fits badly, as a garment.

I saw an uneasy change in Mr. Micawber, which sat tightly on him, as if his new duties were a misfit .

Dickens.

Misform transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Misformed ; present participle & verbal noun Misforming .] To make in an ill form. Spenser.

Misformation noun Malformation.

Misfortunate adjective Producing misfortune. [ Obsolete]

Misfortune noun Bad fortune or luck; calamity; an evil accident; disaster; mishap; mischance.

Consider why the change was wrought,
You 'll find his misfortune , not his fault.

Addison.

Syn. -- Calamity; mishap; mischance; misadventure; ill; harm; disaster. See Calamity .

Misfortune intransitive verb To happen unluckily or unfortunately; to miscarry; to fail. [ Obsolete] Stow.

Misfortuned adjective Unfortunate. [ Obsolete]

Misframe transitive verb To frame wrongly.

Misget transitive verb To get wrongfully. [ Obsolete]

Misgie transitive verb See Misgye . [ Obsolete]

Misgive transitive verb [ imperfect Misgave ; past participle Misgiven ; present participle & verbal noun Misgiving .]

1. To give or grant amiss. [ Obsolete] Laud.

2. Specifically: To give doubt and apprehension to, instead of confidence and courage; to impart fear to; to make irresolute; -- usually said of the mind or heart, and followed by the objective personal pronoun.

So doth my heart misgive me in these conflicts
What may befall him, to his harm and ours.

Shak.

Such whose consciences misgave them, how ill they had deserved.

Milton.

3. To suspect; to dread. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Misgive intransitive verb To give out doubt and apprehension; to be fearful or irresolute. "My mind misgives ." Shak.

Misgiving noun Evil premonition; doubt; distrust. "Suspicious and misgivings ." South.

Misgo (-gō") intransitive verb To go astray. Spenser.

Misgotten (-gŏt"t'n) adjective Unjustly gotten. Spenser.

Misgovern transitive verb To govern ill; as, to misgovern a country. Knolles.

Misgovernance noun Misgovernment; misconduct; misbehavior. [ Obsolete] Chaucer. Spenser.

Misgoverned adjective Ill governed, as a people; ill directed. "Rude, misgoverned hands." Shak.

Misgovernment noun Bad government; want of government. Shak.