Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to leave, to go quickly, to escape; thus excl. mizzle! go away! be off!

1781		G. Parker View of Society II 231: He preferred mizzling off to France.
a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795) n.p.: mizzle to sneak, or run away.
c.1800		‘Song No. 12’ Papers of Francis Place (1819) n.p.: The Doxy gone and left me naked, / Mizzled off with all my clothes.
c.1811		‘A Leary Mot’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 77: A blue bird’s-eye o’er dairies fine – as she mizzled through Temple Bar.
1829		‘On the Prigging Lay’ trans. of ‘Un jour à la Croix Rouge’ in Vidocq (1829) IV 263: Then he calls – ‘Stop thief!’ Thinks I, my master; / That’s a hint to me to mizzle faster.
1835		Sydney Herald 18 June 4/2: [U]p comes landlord and anither little-un, who cries out, who stole spoons. My eyes how you did missle, but the little-un grabbed you.
1837		R. Nicholson Cockney Adventures 16 Dec. 53: He left the widow to secure her retreat as best she could, and mizzled into the street.
1840		R. Barham ‘Lay of St. Cuthbert’ Ingoldsby Legends (1842) 229: Cut your stick, sir – come, mizzle! – be off with you! – go!
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 19 Mar. n.p.: Mr Spiggot mizzled instanter [...] at his very best pace.
1846		Bell’s Life in Sydney 4 July 3/2: Soon after he mizzled, and Hickey, having occasion to go [to] his box, found that his money hail changed hands.
1846		Swell’s Night Guide 59: Right as a jemmy! – mizzle’s the word.
1850		Bell’s Life in Sydney 23 Feb. 3/2: [He] told him Mr B was satisfied and he could mizzle.
1856		C. Reade It Is Never Too Late to Mend III 214: Then mizzle! That is the road.
1863		T. Taylor Ticket-Of-Leave Man Act II: I ain’t a-going to be inspected — I’ll mizzle.
1870		‘Dover Volunteer Rev.’ Songs for the Army 58: Our General fears you’re catching cold, so bids you homeward mizzle.
1871		Hamilton Spectator (Vic.) 7 Jan. 1/7: A young gentleman gets into ‘little difficulties,’ [...] He fears he will have to ‘absquatulate,’ ‘ missle,’ ‘ slope,’ ‘ cut’ ‘ dodge,’ ‘make tracks,’ ‘make himself scarce,’ unless the governor ‘shells out’.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 6: Mizzle - To run away or decamp.
1884		R.C. Hartranft Journal of Solomon Sidesplitter 177: Pat mizzled.
1885		M. Davitt Leaves from a Prison Diary I 153: ‘Islema! Ogda the opperca!’ which in slang is ‘Misle! Dog the copper!’ otherwise — ‘Vanish! See the policeman!’.
1891		F.W. Carew Autobiog. of a Gipsey 434: We ’ad ought ’er jump the crib, cop the cherpin, and misle in an ’our and a ’arf. [Ibid.] 442: Well hall’s well as hends well, and now my deal’s a-goin’ to misle (*Now I’m off).
1898		W.A. Sun. Times (Perth) 20 Feb. 7/1: Nowadays we generally travel gently down to Albany and quietly mizzle hence before a ‘fiery faced’ unit can get into working order.
1892		‘’Arry in ’Arrygate’ (Second Letter) Punch 15 Oct. 169/3: And I ’eard ’er, a-giving ’im beans as ’e mizzled, much down in the mug.
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Dec. 35/2: Where’s Tommy? [...] I want a warrant for Dick Danty. He’s mizzled with my grey mare, and the ---- must be well off to Mimosa by now.
c.1905		J. Furphy Buln-Buln and the Brolga (1948) 🌐 You chaps kin take that ezzinc for makin’ dumps [...] Now, mizzle!
1906		D. Stewart Vultures of the City in Illus. Police News 8 Dec. 12/1: ‘[H]is pals is a-waiting to collar and mizzle with the barrownight’s plate and wallybles’.
1910		D. Stewart Devil of Dartmoor in Illus. Police News 22 Oct. 12/1: ‘Off you go [...] mizzle!’.
1916		C.J. Dennis ‘The Call of Stoush’ Moods of Ginger Mick 33: So Ginger Mick ’e’s mizzled to the war.
1920		Cayton’s Wkly (Seattle, WA) 10 Jan. 3/2: It was ours to blithely mizzle to the anvil and the loom.
1933		H. Drake-Brockman Dampier’s Ghost Act I: I’m afraid I must mizzle off and get packed.
1940		J.G. Brandon Gang War 110: Where was it you say Wayne mizzled into after he’d left Schurtz car?
1958		D. Stivens Scholarly Mouse and other Tales 16: [He] fell over on his back with funk, mizzled out the door, out of the house and kept on going.
1963		R. McGregor-Hastie Compleat Migrant 107: Mizzle, to: to disappear.

2. to die.

1827		W. Clarke Every Night Book 84: When one of the fancy dies, the survivors say, that he has [...] ‘mizzled’ — ‘morrised’ or ‘muffed it’!
1843		T. Hood ‘Confessions of a Phoenix’ Works (1862) VI 233: What, hopped the twig? – kicked the bucket? – bowled out? – gone to pot? – mizzled?