Old English missan “fail in what was aimed at; escape (someone’s notice),” from Proto-Germanic *missjan “to go wrong.” PIE root *mei- “to change, go, move.” (See also: MIGRATE, COMMUNICATION, PERMEABLE.) Reinforced by Old Norse missa “to miss, to lack.” Related: Missed, missing.
To “fail to find” (someone/something), late twelfth century. Meaning “fail to note, perceive or observe,” early thirteenth century. Meaning “fail to attain what one wants,” mid-thirteenth century.
To “perceive with regret the absence or loss of (someone/something)” from 1300.
Meaning of “to not be on time for” is from 1823; “to miss the boat” is figurative of “be too late for,” originally nautical slang.
“The term of honor to a young girl,” originally seventeenth century.
Late twelfth century, “a loss or lack.” “The regret that stems from loss or death or absence,” from Old English miss “absence, loss.” Meaning from late fifteenth century, “an act or fact of missing, a being without.”
Sentences using MISS: