haze

Meanings

Noun

• A reduction of transparency of a clear gas or liquid.
• An analogous dullness on a surface that is ideally highly reflective or transparent.
• Any state suggestive of haze in the atmosphere, such as mental confusion or vagueness of memory.
• The degree of cloudiness or turbidity in a clear glass or plastic, measured in percent.
• Any substance causing turbidity in beer or wine.

Verb

• To be or become hazy, or thick with haze.
• To perform an unpleasant initiation ritual upon a usually non-consenting individual, especially freshmen to a closed community such as a college or military unit.
• To oppress or harass by forcing to do hard and unnecessary work.
• In a rodeo, to assist the bulldogger by keeping (the steer) running in a straight line.
• To use aversive stimuli on (an animal, such as a bear) to encourage it to keep its distance from humans.

Related

Broader meaning words

• qobar
• smaze
• smog
• vog

Origin

• The earliest instances are of the latter part of the 17th century.
• Possibly .
• Compare Old Norse höss ("grey"), akin to Old English hasu ("gray").
• 
  Origin unknown; there is nothing to connect the word with Old English hasu, haso.
• Possibly from hawze, from Middle French haser