misfilm

English

Etymology

mis- +‎ film

Pronunciation

• (verb) IPA^(key): /mɪsˈfɪlm/
• (noun) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪsfɪlm/

Verb

misfilm (third-person singular simple present misfilms, present participle misfilming, simple past and past participle misfilmed)

1. To make an error when microfilming documents.
   • 1979, Records Management, page 30:

     But you must record those documents very precisely indeed, because if you happen to misfilm one of those documents, effectively it's lost for all time, because the chances of actually getting back to it must be considered almost nil.

   • 1979, United States. General Accounting Office, Decisions of the Comptroller General of the United States, page 649:

     III also believes that some kind of factor should have been applied in evaluating REI's benchmark results to account for possible paper jams just as III was penalized for costs associated with manually reprocessing individually misfilmed documents.

   • 1989, Microform Review - Volume 18, page 117:

     The filming here appears to be consistent in terms of polarity and resolution and is typically up to Harvester's high filming standards for archival materials with no repeat filming to make up for previously misfilmed items.

2. To make a poor cinematic adaptation of
   • 1958, Books - Issues 315-326, page 146:

     Paul Dehn pulled no punches when he talked about 'Misfilming Shakespeare' on May 29th. He was vehement in his dislike of Orson Welles's versions of Macbeth and Othello.

   • 1985, Eugene Hammond, Informative Writing, page 159:

     Filmmakers, who know they can't take their films back ( “I misfilmed?” ) , routinely spend six months editing until they have revised a film into the precise form that they want it to take.

Noun

misfilm (plural misfilms)

1. An error that occurs when microfilming.
   • 1996, Business Archives - Issues 71-74, page 38:

     Although rotary cameras are quicker than flat beds, microfilm bureaux often choose to use the latter. This is because preparation time is less; it is not necessary to mend all tears, nor to remove all staples, and there is less chance of misfilms.