haze

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Atmospheric moisture, dust, smoke, and vapor that diminishes visibility.
2. n. A partially opaque covering: Let the polish dry to a haze before buffing it.
3. n. A vague or confused state of mind.
4. v. To become misty or hazy; blur.
5. v. To persecute or harass with meaningless, difficult, or humiliating tasks.
6. v. To initiate, as into a college fraternity, by exacting humiliating performances from or playing rough practical jokes upon.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The aggregation of a countless multitude of extremely minute and even ultra-microscopic particles in the air, individually invisible, but producing in the aggregate an opaqueness of the atmosphere. Unlike fog, haze is commonly observed when the lower air is in a state of unusual dryness, sometimes appearing in horizontal strata at an average altitude of about 1,500 feet, and again often diffused through the air up to a much greater height and having no definite locus. In the common form that occurs when the upper air is in a state of incipient cloudiness, the particles are very minute droplets of water with or without an admixture of smoke or dust; in other cases, the particles consist of organic or inorganic matter carried to high altitudes by convertive and other ascending currents. The former has been termed water-haze, and usually appears gray or bluish in reflected light, and yellow, orange, or red in transmitted light; the latter is called dust-haze, and may be distinguished by its buff tint.
2. To drizzle.
3. To be or become foggy or hazy.
4. To harass with labor; punish with unnecessary work, as a seaman.
5. To play mischievous or abusive tricks on; try the pluck or temper of, especially by physical persecution, as lower-class students in a college or new-comers in an establishment of any kind.
6. To frolic; lark.

Wiktionary

1. v. US, informal To perform an unpleasant initiation ritual upon a usually non-consenting individual, especially freshmen to a closed community such as a college or military unit.
2. v. To oppress or harass by forcing to do hard and unnecessary work.
3. n. uncountable Very fine solid particles (smoke, dust) or liquid droplets (moisture) suspended in the air, slightly limiting visibility.
4. n. uncountable A reduction of transparency of a clear gas or liquid.
5. n. An analogous dullness on a surface that is ideally highly reflective or transparent.
6. n. uncountable, figuratively Any state suggestive of haze in the atmosphere, such as mental confusion or vagueness of memory.
7. n. uncountable, engineering The degree of cloudiness or turbidity in a clear glass or plastic, measured in percent.
8. n. countable, brewing Any substance causing turbidity in beer or wine.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. 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.
2. n. A state of confusion, uncertainty, or vagueness of thought or perception.
3. v. To be hazy, or thick with haze.
4. v. To harass by exacting unnecessary, disagreeable, or difficult work.
5. v. 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.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. harass by imposing humiliating or painful tasks, as in military institutions
2. v. become hazy, dull, or cloudy
3. n. atmospheric moisture or dust or smoke that causes reduced visibility
4. n. confusion characterized by lack of clarity