[‘ Having one’s legs red and blotched from sitting too near a fire. Cf. mizzle-kyted adj.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈmɪzlˌʃɪnd/, U.S. /ˈmɪz(ə)lˌʃɪnd/, Sc. /ˈmɪzlˌʃɪnd/
Forms: 17 *misle-shinned*, 18– *mizzle-shinned*.
Etymology: < /mizzle/, Scots variant of measles n. (see β. forms s.v., although this spelling is not attested until later for the simplex word) + shin n.1 + -ed suffix2. Compare slightly earlier mizzle-kyted adj., and later measly-shankit adj., mizzly adj.2, and mizzled adj.1
Compare also early modern Dutch /maschelen/ reddish spots contracted in winter when legs are put too near the fire (in Kiliaan), spec. use of plural of masschel (see mascle n.2).
/Sc./ Now rare.
Having one’s legs red and blotched from sitting too near a fire. Cf. mizzle-kyted adj.
1724 A. Ramsay /Tea-table Misc./ 167 And there will be Girn-again-Gibbie..And Misle-shin’d Mungo Mccapie.
1854 D. Robertson /Laird of Logan/ (new ed.) 51 Dinna mak ony body suffer by ye, as thae scranky-shanked mizzle-shinned Highlanders do.
1935 D. Rorie /Lum Hat Wantin’ Croon/ 58 Sin’ a mizzle-shinn’d maid is sma’ use till a man.