haze

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

haze, n. [Cf. Icel. höss gray; akin to AS. hasu, heasu, gray; or Armor. aézen, ézen, warm vapor, exhalation, zephyr.].

•  Light vapor or smoke in the air which more or less impedes vision, with little or no dampness; a lack of transparency in the air; hence, figuratively, obscurity; dimness.  [1913 Webster]

  "O'er the sky
  The silvery haze of summer drawn."  [1913 Webster]

  "Above the world's uncertain haze."  [1913 Webster]
•  A state of confusion, uncertainty, or vagueness of thought or perception; as, after the explosion, people were wandering around in a haze.  [PJC]

haze, v. i. 

 To be hazy, or thick with haze.  Ray.  [1913 Webster]

haze, v. t. [Cf. Sw. haza to hamstring, fr. has hough, OD. hæssen ham.].

•  To harass by exacting unnecessary, disagreeable, or difficult work.  [1913 Webster]
•  To harass or annoy by playing abusive or shameful tricks upon; to humiliate by practical jokes; -- used esp. of college students, as an initiation rite into a fraternity or other group; as, the sophomores hazed a freshman.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

haze, n.
1 obscuration of the atmosphere near the earth by fine particles of water, smoke, or dust.
2 mental obscurity or confusion.

haze, v.tr.
1 Naut. harass with overwork.
2 US bully; seek to disconcert.

Etymology

orig. uncert.: cf. obs. F haser tease, insult

THESAURUS

haze

London fog, London special, absentmindedness, abstraction, banter, becloud, befog, befuddlement, bemist, bemusement, bewilderment, bother, botheration, chaff, chaos, clabber up, cloud, cloud over, cloud up, cloudiness, confusion, darken, darken over, daze, dim, discombobulation, discomfiture, discomposure, disconcertion, disorder, disorganization, disorientation, disturbance, dream, drisk, drizzling mist, embarrassment, encloud, enmist, film, flummox, flurry, fluster, flutter, fog, frenzy, frost smoke, fuddle, fuddlement, gauze, jape, jest, jive, joke, jolly, josh, jumble, kid, maze, mess, mist, mistiness, muddle, muddleheadedness, muddlement, murk, murkiness, needle, nubilate, obnubilate, obscure, overcast, overcloud, overshadow, oversmoke, pea soup, pea-soup fog, peasouper, perplexity, perturbation, pother, preoccupation, pucker, put on, rag, rally, razz, reverie, rib, ride, roast, ruffle, shade, shadow, shuffle, smog, smoke, smokiness, stew, stupor, sweat, swivet, tease, tizzy, trance, twit, unsettlement, upset, vapor, woolgathering

ROGET THESAURUS

haze

Ridicule

VB ridicule, deride, mock, taunt, snigger, laugh in one's sleeve, tease, badinage, banter, rally, chaff, joke, twit, quiz, roast, haze, tehee, fleer, show up, play upon, play tricks upon, fool to the top of one's bent, laugh at, grin at, smile at, poke fun at, satirize, parody, caricature, burlesque, travesty, turn into ridicule, make merry with, make fun of, make game of, make a fool of, make an April fool of, rally, scoff, raise a laugh, play the fool, make a fool of oneself.

Bubble

N bubble; cloud, bubble, foam, froth, head, spume, lather, suds, spray, surf, yeast, barm, spindrift, cloud, vapor, fog, mist, haze, steam, geyser, scud, messenger, rack, nimbus, cumulus, woolpack, cirrus, stratus, cirrostratus, cumulostratus, cirrocumulus, mackerel sky, mare's tale, dirty sky, curl cloud, frost smoke, thunderhead, nephelognosy, nephograph, nephology, effervescence, fermentation, bubbling, nebula, cloudliness, nebulosity, bubbling, frothy, nappy, effervescent, sparkling, mousseux, frothy, up, cloudy, thunderheaded, vaporous, nebulous, overcast, the lowring element scowls o'er the darkened lands.

Turbidity

N turbidity, cloudiness, fog, haze, muddiness, haziness, obscurity, nephelometer, turbid, thick, muddy, obfuscated, fuliginous, hazy, misty, foggy, vaporous, nubiferous, cloudy (cloud), smoky, fumid, murky, dirty.

Uncertainty

N uncertainty, incertitude, doubt, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubitation, dubitancy, dubitousness, hesitation, suspense, perplexity, embarrassment, dilemma, bewilderment, timidity, vacillation, diaporesis, indetermination, vagueness, haze, fog, obscurity, ambiguity, contingency, dependence, dependency, double contingency, possibility upon a possibility, open question, onus probandi, blind bargain, pig in a poke, leap in the dark, something or other, needle in a haystack, needle in a bottle of hay, roving commission, precariousness, fallibility, uncertain, casual, random, changeable, doubtful, dubious, indecisive, unsettled, undecided, undetermined, in suspense, open to discussion, controvertible, in question, vague, indeterminate, indefinite, ambiguous, equivocal, undefined, undefinable, confused, mystic, oracular, dazed, perplexing, enigmatic, paradoxical, apocryphal, problematical, hypothetical, experimental, unpredictable, unforeseeable (unknowable), fallible, questionable, precarious, slippery, ticklish, debatable, disputable, unreliable, untrustworthy, contingent, contingent on, dependent on, subject to, dependent on circumstances, occasional, provisional, unauthentic, unauthenticated, unauthoritative, unascertained, unconfirmed, undemonstrated, untold, uncounted, in a state of uncertainty, in a cloud, in a maze, bushed, off the track, ignorant, afraid to say, out of one's reckoning, astray, adrift, at sea, at fault, at a loss, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, puzzled, lost, abroad, d_esorient_e, distracted, distraught, pendente lite, sub spe rati, Heaven knows, who can tell? who shall decide when doctors disagr.