foggy - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From fog +‎ -y, originally in the sense "covered with tall grass; marshy; thick".[1] It is not clear whether fog (“mist”) is a back-formation from foggy (“covered with tall, obscuring grass”)[2] or has a separate Germanic origin,[3] and hence whether foggy (“covered with tall grass”) and foggy (“obscured by mist”) represent one word or two. See fog ("mist"; "tall grass") for more.

foggy (comparative foggier, superlative foggiest)

  1. Obscured by mist or fog; unclear; hazy.
    • 1955 April, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 263:
      At Esher we were getting out into bright sunshine, and apart from another foggy patch between Farnborough and Winchfield, we had a clear run from then on.
  2. (figuratively) Confused, befuddled, or vague.
    He was still foggy with sleep.
    • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VI:
      If she knew [a psychiatrist was] observing her son with a view to finding out if he was foggy between the ears, there would be umbrage on her part, or even dudgeon.
  3. Being, covered with, or pertaining to fog (“tall grass etc that grows after, or is left after, cutting; moss”)
    • 1680, Leonard Mascall, The government of cattel. Divided into three books, etc, page 221:
      For they will feed on foggy grass and such like. Also ye shall understand that horses and Cattel may not well be foddered in Winter all together, but […]
    • 1772, William Ellis, Husbandry, abriged, page 98:
      […] for as he shuts up his meadow at Christmas, leaves such foggy grass behind, and manures well, in case a wet hot summer succeeds, […]
    • 1808, John Stagg, Miscellaneous Poems, Some of which are in the Cumberland and Scottish Dialects, page 143:
      See swingin' owr the foggy swaird, Begrac'd wi' angel features, […]

obscured by mist or fog

  1. ^ “foggy”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  2. ^ “fog”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  3. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “foggy”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.