Mistake | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Mis-tāke', v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. MISTOOK; p. p. MISTAKEN; p. pr. & vb. n. MISTAKING.]

To take away wrongly or improperly; to purloin. [Obs. or rare.] B. Jonson.
To take wrongly; to conceive or understand erroneously; to misunderstand, misapprehend, or misconceive.

'Tis to mistake them costs the time and pain. Pope. 3. To substitute erroneously, as a thought or thing. We mistake the eloquence of self-apology for the animation of conscious integrity. Buckminster. A man may mistake the love of virtue for the practice of it. Johnson. To be mistaken, (a.) To be misapprehended or misunderstood. (b.) To be taken or led astray; hence, to err, to misapprehend.

Mis-tāke', v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. To err in opinion or judgment; to be guilty of a wrong conception, misunderstanding, or misapprehension; to commit an error.

Servants mistake, and sometimes occasion misunderstanding among friends. Swift.

Mis-tāke', n.

noun

n. 1. A taking or an apprehending wrongly. 2. A fault in opinion, judgment, or conduct; a misconception; an error.

Infallibility is an absolute security of the understanding from all possibility of mistake. Tillotson.

No mistake, with certainty; surely; without fail; as, it will happen at the appointed time, and no mistake. [Colloq. and low.]

Synonyms—Blunder; error; bull. See BLUNDER.