Other forms: mislaid
To mislay is to put something down and forget where. Mislay your keys, constantly mislaying things, I seem to mislay them.
It differs from lose in implying the thing is still in the house — you mislay what you expect to find again. The past is mislaid. Note the mis- prefix meaning wrongly, as in misplace and misfile.
1verbmislayTo put something down and forget where.
“I always mislay my reading glasses, so now I wear them on a chain.”
mislay is a losing.
Middle English mys layen is mis-, wrongly, plus lay.
Middle English
mysse layen
English, today
mislay
From Middle English mysse layen, equivalent to mis + lay.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA