# mister

Pronunciation: US say "MIS-tur" /ˈmɪstəɹ/; UK say "MIS-tuh" /ˈmɪstə/

## Noun

1. A respectful term for addressing a man directly, used especially when his name is unknown.
   - Simple: A polite way to call a man whose name you do not know.
   - _Watch out, mister, that bottom step is broken!_
   - _A little boy ran up and asked, "Mister, will you fix my kite?"_
2. A man; an adult male person.
   - Simple: A man: an adult male person.
   - _"Mom, there's a mister at the door asking for you," the boy called._
   - _The little girl told us a nice mister had helped her find her dog._
3. A device that produces or sprays a fine mist, as for plants or for cooling.
   - Simple: A tool that sprays a fine mist of water or another liquid.
   - _The greenhouse misters switched on automatically every hour._
   - _He clipped a small mister to the patio umbrella to cool his guests._

## Verb

4. To address someone using the title "mister."
   - Simple: To call someone "mister" when you talk to them.
   - _Don't mister me, because we've been close friends for years._
   - _The new intern kept mistering everyone, so his boss told him to use first names._

## Noun

5. A kind or type of something. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A kind or sort of something.
6. Someone's occupation, employment, or proper business. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The work or trade that a person does.
7. Need or necessity, or an occasion on which something is needed. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A need for something, or a time when it is needed.

## Verb

8. To be necessary; to matter. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To be needed, or to matter.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4** — First recorded in the 15th century, mister is a form of master spoken without stress.
**Meanings 5–8** — Latin misterium, formed in the Middle Ages by blending ministerium ("ministry") with mysterium ("mystery"), passed into Anglo-Norman as mester or meister and then into Middle English as mister or myster. Métier is a doublet of this word.
**Meaning 3** — This is formed from "mist" plus the suffix "-er."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mister (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).