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Origin and history of hazy

hazy(adj.)

1620s, hawsey, nautical, of unknown origin. Some connect it with German hase "hare," an animal which plays an important part in Germanic folklore, with many supernatural and unlucky aspects in medieval times (among the superstitions: a dead hare should not be brought aboard a fishing ship, and the word hare should not be spoken at sea). Another suggestion is Old English hasu, haswe "gray." Related: Hazily; haziness.

also from 1620s

Entries linking to hazy

hare(n.)

Old English hara "hare," from Proto-West Germanic *hasan- (source also of Old Frisian hasa, Middle Dutch haese, Dutch haas, Old High German haso, German Hase), a word of uncertain origin. Perhaps the original sense was "gray" (compare Old English hasu, Old High German hasan "gray"), and it is from PIE *khas- "gray" (source also of Latin canus "white, gray, gray-haired"). Compare lagotic, and also see hazy. Perhaps it is cognate with Sanskrit sasah, Afghan soe, Welsh ceinach "hare." Rabbits burrow in the ground; hares do not.

þou hast a crokyd tunge heldyng wyth hownd and wyth hare. ["Jacob's Well," c. 1440]
haze(n.)

"opaqueness of the atmosphere," 1706, probably a back-formation of hazy (q.v.). Sense of "confusion, vagueness" is 1797. The differentiation of haze, mist, fog (and other dialectal words) is unmatched in other tongues, where the same word generally covers all three and often "cloud" as well; this may be an effect of the English climate on the English language.

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    foggy
    1540s, of the air, "full of thick mist," perhaps from a Scandinavian source, or formed from fog (n.1) + -y (2). Foggy Bottom "U.S. Department of State," is from the name of a marshy region of Washington, D.C., where many federal buildings are (also with a suggestion of political
    fuzzy
    1610s, "soft, spongy;" a dialectal word of uncertain origin, apparently from fuzz (n.) + -y (2), but perhaps an import from continental Germanic. Compare Low German fussig "weak, loose, spongy," Dutch voos "spongy." From 1713 as "covered with fuzz;" 1778 as "blurred;" and 1937 as
    Indian summer
    "spell of warm, dry, hazy weather after the first frost" (happening anywhere from mid-September to nearly December, according...
    hare
    Old English hara "hare," from Proto-West Germanic *hasan- (source also of Old Frisian hasa, Middle Dutch haese, Dutch haas, Old High German haso, German Hase), of uncertain origin; possibly the original sense was "gray" (compare Old English hasu, Old High German hasan "gray"), fr
    stoke
    1680s, "to feed and stir up" (a fire in a fireplace or furnace), a back-formation from stoker "one who maintains a fire in a furnace" (1650s); ultimately from Dutch stoken "to stoke," from Middle Dutch stoken "to poke, thrust," related to stoc "stick, stump," from Proto-Germanic
    secretary
    late 14c., secretarie, "person entrusted with secrets or private and confidential matters" (a sense now obsolete), from Medieval Latin secretarius "clerk, notary, scribe; confidential officer, confidant," a title applied to various confidential officers, noun use of an adjective
    blue-blood
    1809 in reference to the blood that flows in the veins of the old and aristocratic families of Spain, translating Spanish sangre azul, claimed by certain families of Castile that held themselves uncontaminated by Moorish or Jewish admixture; the term probably is from the notion o
    police
    1530s, "the regulation and control of a community" (similar in sense to policy (n.1)); from Middle French police "organized government, civil administration" (late 15c.), from Latin politia "civil administration," from Greek polis "city" (see polis). Until mid-19c. used in Englan
    subsequent
    "following next in order or time, later," mid-15c., from Old French subsequent (14c.) and directly from Latin subsequentem (nominative subsequens), present participle of subsequi "come after in time, follow closely," figuratively "imitate, conform to," from sub "closely, up to" (

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