mess
/mɛs/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms messes messing messed
- noun A thing or group of things in a disagreeable, disorganised, or dirty state; hence a bad situation. “He made a mess of it.”
- noun (colloquial) A large quantity or number. “My boss dumped a whole mess of projects on my desk today.”
- noun (euphemistic) Excrement. “There was dog mess all along the street.”
- noun (figuratively) A person in a state of (especially emotional) turmoil or disarray; an emotional wreck. “Between the pain and the depression, I'm a mess.”
- verb To make soiled by defecating.
- verb To make soiled by ejaculating.
- verb (transitive, often with "up") To throw into disorder or to ruin.
- verb (intransitive) To interfere. “This doesn't concern you. Don't mess.”
- noun (obsolete) Mass; a church service.
- noun (archaic) A quantity of food set on a table at one time; provision of food for a person or party for one meal; also, the food given to an animal at one time.
- noun (collective) A number of persons who eat together, and for whom food is prepared in common, especially military personnel who eat at the same table. “the wardroom mess”
- noun A building or room in which mess is eaten.
- noun (India) a type of restaurant characterized by homely-style cooking and food.
- noun A set of four (from the old practice of dividing companies into sets of four at dinner).
- noun (US) The milk given by a cow at one milking.
- noun (collective) A group of iguanas.
- verb (intransitive) To take meals with a mess.
- verb (intransitive) To belong to a mess.
- verb (intransitive) To eat (with others). “I mess with the wardroom officers.”
- verb (transitive) To supply with a mess.
Synonyms
disorder bedlam car crash chaos confusion disarray disorganization dog's breakfast dog's dinner free-for-all fuddle hash hot mess imbroglio mash maze misorder mommick muddle mullock messiness muss mussiness fix hole jam pickle kettle of fish mess hall batch
Etymology
Perhaps a corruption of Middle English mesh (“mash”), compare muss, or derived from Etymology 2 "mixed foods, as for animals". Compare also Old English mes (“dung, excrement”).
From Middle English mes, partly from Old English mēse, mēose (“table”), a vernacular loan from Latin/Late Latin mē(n)sa (“table; meal”); and partly from Old French mes, Late Latin missum, from mittō (“to put, place (e.g. on the table)”). See mission, and compare Mass (“religious service”).
Borrowed from German Mess.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Mass; church service. [Obs.] Chaucer.
- noun A quantity of food set on a table at one time; provision of food for a person or party for one meal; as, a mess of pottage; also, the food given to a beast at one time.
- noun A number of persons who eat together, and for whom food is prepared in common; especially, persons in the military or naval service who eat at the same table; as, the wardroom mess. Shak.
- verb To take meals with a mess; to belong to a mess; to eat (with others); as, I mess with the wardroom officers. Marryat.
Etymology [OE. mes, OF. mets, LL. missum, p. p. of mittere to put, place (e. g., on the table), L. mittere to send. See Mission, and cf. Mass religious service.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “mess”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details