a faulty shot in billiards; the cue tip slips off the cue ball
<noun.act>
a minor inadvertent mistake usually observed in speech or writing or in small accidents or memory lapses etc.
<noun.act>
Miscue \Mis*cue"\, n. 1. (Billiards) A false stroke with a billiard cue, the cue slipping from the ball struck without impelling it as desired.
2. Hence: To make a mistake; especially to fail to execute a necessary or expected action at the proper time, such as making a play in sports, or saying one's line in a drama. [PJC]
He came off stage agonizing over a miscue. "How could I have screwed those three bars up?" he groaned.
That miscue illustrates one of Motorola's problems, computer makers say.