Meaning

noun (baseball) a failure of a defensive player to make an out when normal play would have sufficed

verb play incorrectly, e.g., play a wrong note

verb play wrong or in an unskillful manner

originEtymology tree Proto-Indo-European *mey-? Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂-der. Proto-Germanic *missaz Proto-Germanic *missa- Proto-West Germanic *missa- Old English mis- Middle English mys- English mis- English play English misplay From mis- + play.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0