misgive

English

Verb

misgive (third-person singular simple present misgives, present participle misgiving, simple past misgave, past participle misgiven)

1. (transitive, archaic) to give fear or doubt to; to make irresolute
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth, IV.vi

     As Henry's late presaging prophecy

     Did glad my heart with hope of this young Richmond,

     So doth my heart misgive me, in these conflicts,

     What may befall him to his harm and ours.

   • Milton

     Such whose consciences misgave them, how ill they had deserved.

2. (transitive, archaic) To suspect; to dread.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

3. (transitive, archaic) To give wrongly; to give or grant amiss.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Laud to this entry?)

Translations

to give fear or doubt to

• Finnish: aavistaa pahaa, epäillä
• Russian: внушать опасения (ru) (vnušátʹ opasénija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: слутити (sh)

  Roman: slutiti (sh)

Derived terms

• misgivings