misshape

English

Etymology

From mis- + shape.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈmɪsʃeɪp/

Noun

misshape (plural misshapes)

  1. (obsolete) A misshapen person; a misshapen body. [14th-17th c.]
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.12:
      The one of them, that elder did appeare, / With her dull eyes did seeme to looke askew, / That her mis-shape much helpt [...].
  2. A misshapen object; now especially, a broken item (especially food) sold individually at a cheaper price. [from 19th c.]
    • 1995, Jarvis Cocker et al., "Mis-Shapes":
      Mis-shapes, mistakes, misfits / Raised on a diet of broken biscuits.

Verb

misshape (third-person singular simple present misshapes, present participle misshaping, simple past and past participle misshaped)

  1. To shape badly or incorrectly. [from 15th c.]
    • 1989, John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany, New York: Ballantine Books, 1990, Chapter 9, p. 601,
      Major Rawls drove us to our motel [] where a swimming pool with underwater lights had the disturbing effect of substantially enlarging and misshaping the swimmers.

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