fog

fog
\ \ [16] The word fog is something of a mystery.
\ \ It first appears in the 14th century meaning ‘long grass’, a use which persists in Yorkshire fog, the name of a species of grass. This may be of Scandinavian origin. The relationship, if any, between foggrass’ and fogmist’ is not immediately clear, but it has been speculated that the adjective foggy, which to begin with referred to places overgrown with long grass, and then passed via ‘of grassy wetlands’ to ‘boggy, marshy’ may have given rise via this last sense to a noun fog denoting the misty exhalations from such marshy ground. A rather far-fetched semantic chain, perhaps, lacking documentary evidence at crucial points, and perhaps Danish fogspray, shower’ may be closer to the real source.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Fog — (f[o^]g), n. [Dan. sneefog snow falling thick, drift of snow, driving snow, cf. Icel. fok spray, snowdrift, fj[=u]k snowstorm, fj[=u]ka to drift.] 1. Watery vapor condensed in the lower part of the atmosphere and disturbing its transparency. It… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Fog — steht für Ian Marko Fog (*1973), dänischer Handballspieler Um die Welt mit Willy Fog, Figur des Trickfilms Shadows and Fog, US Filmkomödie von Woody Allen (1991) The Fog of War, US Dokumentarfilm Bakersfield Fog, US Sportverein Fiber Optical Gyro …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • fog — fog1 [fôg, fäg] n. [prob. < Scand, as in ON fok, Dan (sne)fog, driving snow, Norw dial. fuka, sea mist < IE base * pū , to puff up, blow, of echoic orig.] 1. a large mass of water vapor condensed to fine particles, at or just above the… …   English World dictionary

  • fog´gi|ly — fog|gy «FOG ee, FG », adjective, gi|er, gi|est. 1. having much fog; misty; murky: »If it is cloudy, rainy, or foggy, the water vapor in the air is condensing (Beauchamp, Mayfield, and …   Useful english dictionary

  • fog|gy — «FOG ee, FG », adjective, gi|er, gi|est. 1. having much fog; misty; murky: »If it is cloudy, rainy, or foggy, the water vapor in the air is condensing (Beauchamp, Mayfield, and …   Useful english dictionary

  • Fog — (f[o^]g), n. [Cf. Scot. fog, fouge, moss, foggage rank grass, LL. fogagium, W. ffwg dry grass.] (Agric.) (a) A second growth of grass; aftergrass. (b) Dead or decaying grass remaining on land through the winter; called also {foggage}. [Prov.Eng.] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Fog — (f[o^]g), v. t. (Agric.) To pasture cattle on the fog, or aftergrass, of; to eat off the fog from. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • fog — [n1] heavy mist that reduces visibility brume, cloud, effluvium, film, gloom, grease, ground clouds, haze, London fog, miasma, murk, murkiness, nebula, obscurity, pea soup*, smaze, smog, smoke, smother, soup*, steam, vapor, visibility zero zero* …   New thesaurus

  • Fog — Fog, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Fogged}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Fogging}.] 1. To envelop, as with fog; to befog; to overcast; to darken; to obscure. [1913 Webster] 2. (Photog.) To render semiopaque or cloudy, as a negative film, by exposure to stray light,… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Fog — (f[o^]g), v. i. [Etymol. uncertain.] To practice in a small or mean way; to pettifog. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Where wouldst thou fog to get a fee? Dryden. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Fog — Fog, v. i. (Photog.) To show indistinctly or become indistinct, as the picture on a negative sometimes does in the process of development. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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