Haze

Pronunciation

• enPR: hāz, IPA: /heɪz/
• Rhymes: -eɪz
• Homophones: hays, heys

Alternative forms

• hase

• The earliest instances are of the latter part of the 17th century.
• Possibly Back-formation from {{3}}
• Compare Old Norse höss ("grey"), akin to Old English hasu ("gray").

Webster 1913|haze

Origin unknown; there is nothing to connect the word with Old English hasu, haso ("gray").

Full definition of haze

Noun

1. (uncountable) Very fine solid particles (smoke, dust) or liquid droplets (moisture) suspended in the air, slightly limiting visibility.
• 1772 December, James Cook, , vol. 1 ch. 2:Our hopes, however, soon vanished; for before eight o'clock, the serenity of the sky was changed into a thick haze, accompanied with rain.
• 1895, H.G. Wells, :A blue haze, half dust, half mist, touched the long valley with mystery.
• 2013-06-29, Unspontaneous combustion, Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia.
2. (uncountable) A reduction of transparency of a clear gas or liquid.
3. An analogous dullness on a surface that is ideally highly reflective or transparent.
   The soap left a persistent haze on the drinking glasses.
   The furniture has a haze, possibly from some kind of wax.
4. (uncountable, figuratively) Any state suggestive of haze in the atmosphere, such as mental confusion or vagueness of memory.
• 1957, Daphne du Maurier, The Scapegoat (novel) http://books.google.com/books?id=cf4-iVG03pEC, ISBN 081221725X, page 218:In my haze of alcohol, I thought for one crazy instant that he had plumbed my secret.
• 1994, Michael Thomas Roeder, A History of the Concerto, But these tasks are difficult for the recent history of the form, since our perceptions are clouded by the haze of historical proximity.
• 2005, Dane Anthony Morrison, Nancy Lusignan Schultz, Salem: Place, Myth, and Memory, Because he chose to be "a citizen of somewhere else," we glimpse him now only "through the haze of memory."
5. (uncountable, engineering, packaging) The degree of cloudiness or turbidity in a clear glass or plastic, measured in percent.
• 1998, Leonard I. Nass and Charles A. Heiberger, Encyclopedia of PVC http://books.google.com/books?id=mDe7EidmglIC&, ISBN 0824778227, page 318:Haze is listed as a percent value and, typically, is about 1% for meat film.
6. (countable, brewing) Any substance causing turbidity in beer or wine.
• 1985, Philip Jackisch, Modern Winemaking http://books.google.com/books?id=Zf-24UvvT4oC, ISBN 0801414555, page 69:Various clarifying and fining agents are used in winemaking to remove hazes.

Derived terms

• haze over
• hazy

Verb

1. To be hazy, or thick with haze.

Possibly from hawze ("terrify, frighten, confound"), from Middle French haser ("irritate, annoy")

Verb

1. (US, informal) To perform an unpleasant initiation ritual upon a usually non-consenting individual, especially freshmen to a closed community such as a college or military unit.
2. To oppress or harass by forcing to do hard and unnecessary work.
• 1920, Peter B. Kyne, The Understanding Heart, Chapter I:... when the young man whirled his horse, “hazed” Jupiter in circles and belaboured him with a rawhide quirt, ... He ceased his cavortings ...