# mischief
## English
### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈmɪst͡ʃɪf/, /ˈmɪst͡ʃiːf/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈmɪst͡ʃɪf/
** Audio (US):(file)
** Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪstʃɪf, -ɪstʃiːf

### Etymology 1

From Middle English myschef, meschef, meschief, mischef, from Old French meschief, from meschever (“to bring to grief”), from mes- (“badly”) + chever (“happen; come to a head”), from Vulgar Latin *capare, from Latin caput (“head”).

#### Noun

mischief (countable and uncountable, plural mischiefs)
* (uncountable) Conduct that playfully causes petty annoyance.
    Synonyms: delinquency, naughtiness, roguery, scampishness; see also Thesaurus:villainy, Thesaurus:mischief
    Drink led to mischief.
* (countable) A playfully annoying action.
    John's mischief, tying his shoelaces together, irked George at first.
* (collective) A group or a pack of rats.
** 2014, G. W. Rennie, The Rat Chronicles, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 21:Kirac, the leader of the rats under his charge, speaks to the major through his telepathic abilities that manifested after the alien virus infected him and his mischief of rats.
** 2015, Rachel Smith, John Davidson, Rats For Kids, Mendon Cottage Books, →ISBN, page 6:A group of rats is not a herd or a gaggle, but a pack or a mischief of rats. Rats in general are omnivorous, meaning they will eat almost anything.
* (archaic) Harm or injury:
** (uncountable) Harm or trouble caused by an agent or brought about by a particular cause.
    She had mischief in her heart.
    Sooner or later he'll succeed in doing some serious mischief.
*** 1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 502, lines 139–140:Was I the Cauſe of Miſchief, or the Man / Whoſe lawlesſ Luſt the bloody War began?
*** 1718 December 15 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Jonathan Swift, “A Letter Concerning the Sacramental Test”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume IV, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 435:I have been tired in history with the perpetual folly of those states, who call in foreigners to assist them against a common enemy: but the mischief was, these allies would never be brought to allow, that the common enemy was quite subdued. And they had reason; for it proved at last, that one part of the common enemy was those who called them in, and so the allies became at length the masters.
*** 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 8, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief.
*** 1914 September – 1915 May, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 1, in The Valley of Fear: A Sherlock Holmes Novel, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 27 February 1915, →OCLC:I fear this means that there is some mischief afoot.
** (countable) An injury or an instance of harm or trouble caused by a person or other agent or cause.
    It may end in her doing a great mischief to herself—and perhaps to others too.
*** c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act I:[R]eligion / Hides many mischiefs from suspicion.
*** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 32:23:I will heape mischiefes vpon them, I will spend mine arrowes vpon them.
* (law) A criminal offence defined in various ways in various jurisdictions, sometimes including causing damage to another's property.
* (archaic, countable) A cause or agent of annoyance, harm or injury, especially a person who causes mischief.
    Synonyms: bad boy, knave, rapscallion, rascal, rogue; see also Thesaurus:villain, Thesaurus:troublemaker
** 1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by C. Hitch and L. Hawes, […], →OCLC:To die like a man of honour, Sir Hargrave, you must have lived like one. You should be sure of your cause. But these pistols are too ready a mischief. Were I to meet you in your own way, Sir Hargrave, I should not expect, that a man so enraged would fire his over my head, as I should be willing to do mine over his. Life I would not put upon the perhaps involuntary twitch of a finger.
** 1993, Carlos Parada, Genealogic Guide to Greek Mythology‎, page 71:Epimetheus was scatter-brained and a mischief to men for having taken the woman [Pandora] that Zeus had formed.
* (euphemistic) The Devil; used as an expletive.
** 1967, The Statesman, volume 12, page 260:What the mischief are you? and how the mischief did you get here, and where in thunder did you come from?
* (Australia) Casual and/or flirtatious sexual acts.

##### Synonyms

* (harm or injury): agitation, annoyance, corruption, damage, demolition, destruction, detriment, disablement, disruption, evil, harm, hurt, ill, impairment, incapacitation, injury, nuisance, pique, ravage, sabotage, scathe, trouble, undoing, unmaking, vexation, weakening, wrong

##### Derived terms

* do oneself a mischief
* malicious mischief
* mischief-maker
* mischievous
* mischievously
* mischievousness
* play the mischief with

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Etymology 2

From Middle English myschefen, myscheven, from Old French meschever.

#### Alternative forms

* mischieve

#### Verb

mischief (third-person singular simple present mischiefs, present participle mischiefing, simple past and past participle mischiefed)
* (transitive, obsolete) To do a mischief to; to harm.
** 1911, J[ames] M[atthew] Barrie, “The Island Come True”, in Peter and Wendy, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 86:"Not now, Smee," Hook said darkly. "He is only one, and I want to mischief all the seven. Scatter and look for them."
* (transitive, obsolete) To slander.
** 1708, John Dunton, The Phenix, page 403:And so it hath been divers times; Men mischiefing the Jews to excuse their own Wickedness: as to instance one Precedent in the time of a certain King of Portugal.

##### Translations
### Further reading

* “mischief”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* Mischief in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

## Middle English
### Noun

mischief
* Alternative form of myschef