Miss, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Missed p. pr. & vb. n. Missing.]
 1. To fail of hitting, reaching, getting, finding, seeing, hearing, etc.; as, to miss the mark one shoots at; to miss the train by being late; to miss opportunites of getting knowledge; to miss the point or meaning of something said.
    When a man misses his great end, happiness, he will acknowledge he judged not right.   --Locke.
 2. To omit; to fail to have or to do; to get without; to dispense with; -- now seldom applied to persons.
 She would never miss, one day,
 A walk so fine, a sight so gay.   --Prior.
 We cannot miss him; he does make our fire,
 Fetch in our wood.   --Shak.
 3. To discover the absence or omission of; to feel the want of; to mourn the loss of; to want; as, to miss an absent loved one.
    Neither missed we anything . . . Nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him.   --1 Sam. xxv. 15, 21.
    What by me thou hast lost, thou least shalt miss.   --Milton.
 To miss stays. Naut. See under Stay.


 Stay n.  Naut. A large, strong rope, employed to support a mast, by being extended from the head of one mast down to some other, or to some part of the vessel. Those which lead forward are called fore-and-aft stays; those which lead to the vessel's side are called backstays. See Illust. of Ship.
 In stays, ∨ Hove in stays Naut., in the act or situation of staying, or going about from one tack to another. --R. H. Dana, Jr.
 Stay holes Naut., openings in the edge of a staysail through which the hanks pass which join it to the stay.
 Stay tackle Naut., a tackle attached to a stay and used for hoisting or lowering heavy articles over the side.
 To miss stays Naut., to fail in the attempt to go about. --Totten.
 Triatic stay Naut., a rope secured at the ends to the heads of the foremast and mainmast with thimbles spliced to its bight into which the stay tackles hook.