subs. (American).—Bewilderment; confusion; FOG (q.v.).
Verb (American).—1. To play tricks or practical jokes; to frolic. Hence, HAZING. Also to mystify or FOG (q.v.).
1848. New York Commercial Advertiser, 2 Dec. W. had been drinking, and was HAZING about the street at night, acting somewhat suspiciously or strangely [when the officer arrested him].
1887. Lippincott’s Magazine, July, p. 105. This and the Dyke are the only approaches to HAZING that I have ever heard of here.
1888. Philadelphia Bulletin, 27 Feb. So woman is completing her conquest of the planet. She rows. She smokes. She preaches. She HAZES. She shoots. She rides.
1892. R. L. STEVENSON and L. OSBOURNE, The Wrecker, p. 39. In some of the studios at that date, the HAZING of new pupils was both barbarous and obscene.
2. (nautical).—To harass with overwork or paltry orders. Also to find fault.
1840. R. H. DANA, Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, ch. viii. HAZE is a word of frequent use on board ship, and never, I believe, used elsewhere. It is very expressive to a sailor, and means to punish by hard work. Let an officer once say ‘I’ll HAZE you,’ and your fate is fixed. You will be ‘worked up,’ if you are not a better man than he is.
1852. BRISTED, The Upper Ten Thousand, p. 205. Here I have been five days, fussing, and paying, and swearing (legally, you understand, not profanely) at the custom-house, and then ‘HAZING’—what you call slanging—upholsterers.
1883. R. L. STEVENSON, Treasure Island, ch. xi., p. 89 (1886). I’ve had a’most enough o’ Cap’n Smollett; he’s HAZED me long enough, by thunder!
1889. Notes and Queries, 7 S. viii., 31 Aug. My old partner, who served his time at sea, always spoke of giving a man ‘a good HAZING’ when he meant he had been finding fault with his doings, etc.
