misfall

English

Etymology

From Middle English misfallen, equivalent to mis- +‎ fall. Cognate with Dutch misvallen (“to misfall, miss in falling, displease, miscarry”), German missfallen (“to displease”), Icelandic misfalla (“to misuse”).

Pronunciation

• (verb) IPA^(key): /mɪsˈfɔːl/
• (noun) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪsfɔːl/

Verb

misfall (third-person singular simple present misfalls, present participle misfalling, simple past misfell, past participle misfallen)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To befall badly or incorrectly; happen unfortunately (to); mishappen; turn out badly.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 257:

     Sometime ſhe feared, leaſt ſome hard miſhap / Had him misfalne in his aduenturous queſt; [...]

   • 1889, Henry Morley, Early prose romances:

     [...] let us abide together that, one with the counsel and that other with the deed, then may there nothing misfall to usward.

   • 2009, Eric B. Hare, Skyscrapers:

     However, the principal and his students worked hard, and they soon had the buildings in shape for use and the farm doing as well as possible. Then a terrible misfortune misfell one of the neighbors who was most bitter in his tirades.

Noun

misfall (plural misfalls)

1. A mishap; accident; bad luck; misfortune.
   • 1875, Julian Hawthorne, Saxon studies:

     But alas! an unlooked- for misfall has occurred."

Anagrams

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