missus

See also: Missus

English

Alternative forms

• missis

Etymology

Representing a common pronunciation of Mrs, a reduced form of Mistress.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪs.əz/, /ˈmɪs.ɪz/, /ˈmɪs.əs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Homophones: misses, Misses
• Rhymes: -ɪsəz, -ɪsəs

Noun

missus (plural missuses)

1. (chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Wife or girlfriend.

   Harry said he couldn't stop and chat because his missus wanted to go shopping.

   The missus has a list of chores for me to do this weekend.

   • 1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 208:

     I thought there might be trouble with the missus if I engaged a one-time murderer as nursemaid.

   • 2006, “Littlest Things”, in Alright, Still, performed by Lily Allen:

     Sometimes I find myself sitting back and reminiscing / Especially when I have to watch other people kissing / And I remember when you started calling me your missus / All the play fighting, all the flirtatious disses

   • 2013, Jeff Jenkins, Watching The World, Andrews UK Limited, →ISBN:

     Imagine you have driven past a restaurant and thought to yourself, 'That would be a nice place to take the missus for an evening out,' and in no time at all you have found yourself flicking through the Yellow Pages in search of the phonenumber.

2. (chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Term of address for a woman.

   'Scuse me missus, but your petticoat's showing.

   • 2013, C. S. Peters, On a Wing and a Prayer, page 161:

     Look ere Missus! Little Joey's me bruvva. E stays wiv me. We aint goin ter be split up.

Usage notes

The "wife or girlfriend" sense is most commonly used in phrases such as "the missus" (normally meaning the speaker's wife) or "my/his/Bill's missus". Traditionally, "missus" refers only to someone's wife. More recently, it has come to be used by some people also to refer to a girlfriend.

Synonyms

• Mrs. (US, Canada)
• Mrs (UK)

Coordinate terms

• miss
• mister
• mistress
• madam
• maiden
• maid
• master
• matron

Derived terms

• Mrs. President

Translations

wife — see wife

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmɪs.sʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmis.sus]

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *mey-?

Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂-

Proto-Indo-European *-eti

Proto-Indo-European *méyth₂eti

Proto-Italic *meitō

Old Latin mītō

Latin mittō

Proto-Indo-European *-tus

Proto-Italic *-tus

Latin -tus

Latin missus

From mittō (“to send, to shoot, to let”) + -tus.

Noun

missus m (genitive missūs); fourth declension

1. a sending, dispatching
2. a throwing, hurling, cast, shot
3. (in the public games) a round
4. (of a meal) a course

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	missus	missūs
genitive	missūs	missuum
dative	missuī	missibus
accusative	missum	missūs
ablative	missū	missibus
vocative	missus	missūs

Etymology 2

Perfect passive participle of mittō (“send, dispatch”)

Participle

missus (feminine missa, neuter missum); first/second-declension participle

1. sent, having been sent, caused to go, having been caused to go
   • 4th century, St Jerome, Vulgate, Tobit 3:25

     et missus est angelus Domini sanctus Rafahel ut curaret ambos quorum uno tempore fuerat oratio in conspectu Domini recitata

     And the holy angel of the Lord, Raphael was sent to heal them both, whose prayers at one time were rehearsed in the sight of the Lord.

2. let go, having been let go, released, having been released, discharged, having been discharged
3. thrown, having been thrown, hurled, having been hurled, cast, having been cast, launched, having been launched
4. sent out, having been sent out, emitted, having been emitted
5. uttered, having been uttered
6. dismissed, having been dismissed, disregarded, having been disregarded
7. put to an end, having been put to an end

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular		plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	missus	missa	missum	missī	missae	missa
genitive	missī	missae	missī	missōrum	missārum	missōrum
dative	missō	missae	missō	missīs
accusative	missum	missam	missum	missōs	missās	missa
ablative	missō	missā	missō	missīs
vocative	misse	missa	missum	missī	missae	missa

Related terms

• missa
• missiō

Descendants

• Catalan: mes
• English: mess
• French: mis
• Old French: mets, mes
• Italian: messo
• Sicilian: misu
• Aragonese: meso

References

• “missus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “missus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "missus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “missus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to speak without circumlocution: missis ambagibus dicere
    
  • correspondence: litterae missae et allatae
    
  • (ambiguous) a letter to Atticus: epistula ad Atticum data, scripta, missa or quae ad A. scripta est