Definition of "miss"

miss¹

/mɪs/

verb
third-person singular simple present misses, present participle missing, simple past and past participle missed
1. (transitive, intransitive) To fail to hit.
  Quotations
  Men observe when things hit, and not when they miss.
  1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […]
  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
2. (transitive) To fail to achieve or attain.
  Quotations
  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, […]
3. (transitive) To avoid; to escape.
4. (transitive) To become aware of the loss or absence of; to feel the want or need of, sometimes with regret.
  Quotations
  […] 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. M[acock] for John Starkey […], 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, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter I, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919
5. (transitive) To fail to understand;
6. (transitive) To fail to notice; to have a shortcoming of perception; overlook.
7. (transitive) To fail to attend.
8. (transitive) To be late for something (a means of transportation, a deadline, etc.).
9. (transitive) To be wanting; to lack something that should be present.
10. (transitive, slang) To spare someone of something unwanted or undesirable.
11. (poker, said of a card) To fail to help the hand of a player.
12. (sports) To fail to score (a goal).
  Quotations
  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
13. (intransitive, obsolete) To go wrong; to err.
  Quotations
  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, stanza 2
14. (intransitive, obsolete) To be absent, deficient, or wanting.
  Quotations
  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, [Act PROLOGUE, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]

miss²

/mɪs/

noun
plural misses
1. A failure to hit.
  Quotations
  "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.
3. An act of avoidance (usually used with the verb give)
4. (computing) The situation where an item is not found in a cache and therefore needs to be explicitly loaded.
5. (obsolete) Error, fault; misdeed, wrongdoing, sin.
6. (obsolete) Hurt or harm from a mistake or accident.
7. (obsolete) Loss, lack want; hence, the feeling of loss.

miss³

/mɪs/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural misses
1. A title of respect for a young woman (usually unmarried) with or without a name used.
2. An unmarried woman; a girl.
  Quotations
  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.
  Quotations
  courting a Miss
  1664, 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, […]
4. (card 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.

Definition of "miss"

miss1

verb

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miss2

noun

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miss3

noun

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miss¹

miss²

miss³