adv., also á mis, the older form of which was miss, which remains in missa, missir, miss-eri, and was in the earliest times sounded so, as may be seen from such rhymes as miss-löng, vissa, Fms. xi. 196 (in a verse of the beginning of the 11th century); [Ulf. misso = ἀλλήλων, prop. a subst. = Lat. vices]:—amiss, denoting to miss one another, pass one another without meeting: þá ríðr hann undir melinn hjá Mosvöllum er þeir bræðr ríða hit efra ok farask þeir hjá á mis, Gísl. 19; as also simply farast á mis, to pass by one another so as to miss; sverð Saul hjó aldri mis, Stj. 495, 2 Sam. ii. 22; hann ætlaði at drepa keisarann … en grípr á mis Karlamagnús, he intended to slay the emperor Charlemagne, but missed him, Karl. 151; gripu þeir á miss hins bezta ráðs, they missed their opportunity, Róm. 278; göra á miss, to do amiss, Hom. 14; leggja á mis, to lay athwart or across.

B. In a great number of compds, denoting,

α. alternately, Germ. wechsel, as in mis-svefni, mis-vitr, miss-eri, missöng;

β. amiss, in a wrong way; and lastly,

γ. wrong, evil, see the following compds.