mismend

present singular third person mismends · participle present mismending · participle past mismended · past mismended

1. transitiveTo mend improperly; to attempt to fix without success.

   He cannot see well, mislays his glasses, and frequently mismends the nets.

   1971, Nancy Anne Dyer, Tokugawa to Meiji Japan: a Resource Guide for Teachers, page 140

   2 more examples

   A flash of something like a look of scorn darted from under the brows of the cynical Grindlines, his very nose curled with angry disapprobation, as he threw down a pen which he had been mending or mismending, and muttered — A - M - P - L - I - T - I - C - A - T - I - O - N !!

   1856, William Arundell Harris, The Pilgrim Minstrel, and Wreck of the John, Emigrant Ship, on the Manacle Rocks, May 2nd, 1855, page x

   They walked with an ease that bespoke strength, bespoke limbs that had never been cracked and mismended, never felt the ravages of age.

   2010, Clive Barker, Galilee, page 80