Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MISS, v.i.

1. To fail to hit; to fly wide; to deviate from the true direction. Flying bullets now, / To execute his rage, appear too slow; / They miss, or sweep but common souls away. Waller.
2. Not to succeed; to fail. Men observe when things hit, and not when they miss. Bacon.
3. To fail; to miscarry, as by accident. The invention all admired, and each, how he / To be the inventor missed. Milton.
4. To fail to obtain, learn or find; with of. On the least reflection, we can not miss of them. Atterbury.
5. To fail; to mistake. Spenser.