mizzle v1 [OED 1483 →] chiefly Sth, S Midl To rain in very fine drops; also fig; hence ppl adj mizzling drizzly; n mizzling =mizzle n.1838 Kettell Yankee Notions 106, Who loved to hear roast mutton sizzling,/ And good fat cheer on all sides mizzling. 1843 (1916) Hall New Purchase 123 sIN, The rain kept mizzling away. 1858 in 1966 Boller MO Fur Trader 144, Cloudy and mizzling. 1899 (1912) Green VA Folk-Speech 285, Mizzle. . . To rain in very fine drops; drizzle. . . Mizzling. . . A thick mist of fine rain; a mist. 1952 Brown NC Folkl. 1.565, Mizzle. . . To rain in fine or foglike drops. 1954 Harder Coll. cwTN, Mizzle. . . Of rain: fall mistily. c1960 Wilson Coll. csKY, Mizzle. 1966 DARE (Qu. B21, When fine drops of moisture are falling . . it’s doing what?) Inf NM11, Mizzlin’: too heavy for a mist, not enough for a drizzle—usage not widespread. 1971 Down East Nov 68 ME, What we had were temperatures in the fifties and a mizzling rain. 1976 Garber Mountain-ese 58 sAppalachians, It ain’t rainin’ much, jist a mizzlin’ uv fallin’ weather. 1986 Pederson LAGS Concordance (A steady drizzle) 1 inf, cwFL, Mizzling—has heard people say this; 1 inf, neMS, Mizzling—her neighbor used to say, = drizzling.