Mischief

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Mischief \Mis"chief\ (m[i^]s"ch[i^]f), n. [OE. meschef bad
     result, OF. meschief; pref. mes- (L. minus less) + chief end,
     head, F. chef chief. See {Minus}, and {Chief}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. Harm; damage; esp., disarrangement of order; trouble or
        vexation caused by human agency or by some living being,


        intentionally or not; often, calamity, mishap; trivial
        evil caused by thoughtlessness, or in sport. --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs.        --Ps. lii. 2.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The practice whereof shall, I hope, secure me from
              many mischiefs.                       --Fuller.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Cause of trouble or vexation; trouble. --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The mischief was, these allies would never allow
              that the common enemy was subdued.    --Swift.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {To be in mischief}, to be doing harm or causing annoyance.
        
  
     {To make mischief}, to do mischief, especially by exciting
        quarrels.
  
     {To play the mischief}, to cause great harm; to throw into
        confusion. [Colloq.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Damage; harm; hurt; injury; detriment; evil; ill.
  
     Usage: {Mischief}, {Damage}, {Harm}. Damage is an injury
            which diminishes the value of a thing; harm is an
            injury which causes trouble or inconvenience; mischief
            is an injury which disturbs the order and consistency
            of things. We often suffer damage or harm from
            accident, but mischief always springs from perversity
            or folly.
            [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Mischief \Mis"chief\, v. t.
     To do harm to. [Obs.] --Milton.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  mischief
       n 1: reckless or malicious behavior that causes discomfort or
            annoyance in others [syn: {mischief-making}, {mischievousness},
             {deviltry}, {devilry}, {devilment}, {rascality}, {roguery},
             {roguishness}, {shenanigan}]
       2: the quality or nature of being harmful or evil [syn: {maleficence},
           {balefulness}] [ant: {beneficence}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  167 Moby Thesaurus words for "mischief":
     Discordia, Eris, abomination, atrocity, bad, bad boy, badness,
     bane, bankruptcy, befoulment, blight, booger, breakage, breakdown,
     buffoon, bugger, clash, clashing, collapse, conflict, contention,
     corruption, crack-up, crippling, crying evil, cutup, damage,
     defilement, despoliation, destruction, detriment, devil,
     devilishness, devilment, devilry, deviltry, diablerie, difference,
     difficulty, dilapidation, disablement, disaccord, disadvantage,
     disaffinity, discord, discordance, discordancy, disharmony,
     disrepair, disruption, dissension, dissent, division, drawback,
     elf, elfishness, encroachment, enfant terrible, enmity, evil,
     foolishness, friction, funmaker, grievance, handicap, hardship,
     harm, havoc, high spirits, hobbling, hood, hoodlum, hooligan, hurt,
     hurting, ill, imp, impairment, impishness, incapacitation,
     incompatibility, incompatibleness, infection, infringement,
     inharmoniousness, inharmony, injury, inroad, jangle, jar, joker,
     jokester, knave, liability, limb, little devil, little monkey,
     little rascal, loss, loss of ground, maiming, mayhem, minx,
     misbehavior, mischief-maker, mischievousness, misfortune,
     monkey business, monkeyshines, mutilation, naughtiness,
     noncooperation, open conflict, outrage, pixie, playfulness, poison,
     pollution, practical joker, prankishness, pranksomeness, prankster,
     prejudice, puck, puckishness, rapscallion, rascal, rascality,
     rogue, roguery, roguishness, rowdy, rub, ruffian, ruin, ruination,
     ruinousness, sabotage, scalawag, scamp, scampishness, scapegrace,
     scathe, shenanigans, sickening, spoiling, sportiveness,
     step backward, strained relations, strife, tension, the worst,
     toxin, trouble, unharmoniousness, unpleasantness, variance, venom,
     vexation, villain, wag, waggery, waggishness, weakening, woe,
     wrong, youthful spirits