mislay

Other forms: mislaying; mislays

If you mislay something, you lose it temporarily. People who tend to mislay their house keys sometimes hide an extra key under a rock near the front door.

If you mislay your cell phone inside, you can ask your brother to call your number. If your grandmother mislays her hearing aid, you'll have to shout and gesture until she finds it again. Mislay implies that you've put the lost object down somewhere, and you'll find it again soon. The word adds the "bad" or "wrong" prefix mis- to lay, from the Old English lecgan, "to place on the ground."