Mess definition | Dictionary.com

Synonyms of Mess

agglomeration, bank, drift, hill, mass, mound, mountain, pile, shock, stack, tumble, chaos

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mess

11 dictionary results for: Mess

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

mess

[mes]

–noun

1.	a dirty, untidy, or disordered condition: The room was in a mess.

2.	a person or thing that is dirty, untidy, or disordered.

3.	a state of embarrassing confusion: My affairs are in a mess.

4.	an unpleasant or difficult situation: She got into a mess driving without a license.

5.	a dirty or untidy mass, litter, or jumble: a mess of papers.

6.	a group regularly taking their meals together.

7.	the meal so taken.

8.	mess hall.

9.	Naval. messroom.

10.	a quantity of food sufficient for a dish or a single occasion: to pick a mess of sweet corn for dinner.

11.	a sloppy or unappetizing preparation of food.

12.	a dish or quantity of soft or liquid food: to cook up a nice mess of pottage.

13.	a person whose life or affairs are in a state of confusion, esp. a person with a confused or disorganized moral or psychological outlook.

–verb (used with object)

14.	to make dirty or untidy (often fol. by up): Don't mess the room.

15.	to make a mess or muddle of (affairs, responsibilities, etc.) (often fol. by up): They messed the deal.

16.	to supply with meals, as military personnel.

17.	to treat roughly; beat up (usually followed by up): The gang messed him up.

–verb (used without object)

18.	to eat in company, esp. as a member of a mess.

19.	to make a dirty or untidy mess.

—Verb phrases

20.

mess around or about,

a.	Informal. to busy oneself without purpose or plan; work aimlessly or halfheartedly; putter.

b.	Informal. to waste time; loaf.

c.	Informal. to meddle or interfere.

d.	Informal. to involve or associate oneself, esp. for immoral or unethical purposes: His wife accused him of messing around with gamblers.

e.	Slang. to trifle sexually; philander.

21.	mess in or with, to intervene officiously; meddle: You'll get no thanks for messing in the affairs of others.

22.

mess up,

a.	to make dirty, untidy, or disordered.

b.	to make muddled, confused, etc.; make a mess of; spoil; botch.

c.	to perform poorly; bungle: She messed up on the final exam.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME mes < OF: a course at a meal < LL missus what is sent (i.e., put on the table), n. use of ptp. of L mittere to send

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

mess (měs) Pronunciation Key
n.

A disorderly or dirty accumulation, heap, or jumble: left a mess in the yard.
1. A cluttered, untidy, usually dirty condition: The kitchen was a mess.
2. A confused, troubling, or embarrassing condition; a muddle: With divorce and bankruptcy proceedings pending, his personal life was in a mess.
3. One that is in such a condition: clothes that were a mess after painting the ceiling; made a mess of their marriage.
4. An amount of food, as for a meal, course, or dish: cooked up a mess of fish.
5. A serving of soft, semiliquid food: a mess of porridge.
6. A group of people, usually soldiers or sailors, who regularly eat meals together.
7. Food or a meal served to such a group: took mess with the enlistees.
8. A mess hall.
1. An amount of food, as for a meal, course, or dish: cooked up a mess of fish.
2. A serving of soft, semiliquid food: a mess of porridge.
3. A group of people, usually soldiers or sailors, who regularly eat meals together.
4. Food or a meal served to such a group: took mess with the enlistees.
5. A mess hall.
1. A group of people, usually soldiers or sailors, who regularly eat meals together.
2. Food or a meal served to such a group: took mess with the enlistees.
3. A mess hall.

v. messed, mess·ing, mess·es

v. tr.

To make disorderly or soiled; clutter or foul: a puppy that still messes the floor.
To botch; bungle.

v. intr.

To cause or make a mess.
To use or handle something carelessly; fiddle: messed with the blender until he broke it.
To intrude; interfere: messing in the neighbors' affairs.
To take a meal in a military mess.

Phrasal Verb(s):
mess around Informal

To pass time in aimless puttering.
To associate casually or playfully: liked to mess around with pals on days off.
Informal To be sexually unfaithful.

mess up

Informal To make a mistake, especially from nervousness or confusion: messed up and dropped the ball.
Slang To beat up; manhandle: got messed up in a brawl.

[Middle English mes, course of a meal, food, group of people eating together, from Old French, from Late Latin missus, from Latin, past participle of mittere, to place.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
mess

c.1300, "food for one meal, pottage," from O.Fr. mes "portion of food, course at dinner," from L.L. missus "course at dinner," lit. "placing, putting (on a table, etc.)," from mittere "to put, place," from L. mittere "to send, let go" (see mission). Sense of "mixed food" led to contemptuous use for "jumble, mixed mass" (1828), and figurative sense of "state of confusion" (1834), as well as "condition of untidiness" (1851). Meaning "communal eating place"(esp. a military one) is first attested 1536, from earlier sense of "company of persons eating together" (c.1420), originally a group of four. Messy "untidy" is attested from 1843. To mess with "interfere, get involved" is from 1903; mess up "make a mistake, get in trouble" is from 1933, both orig. Amer.Eng. colloquial.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

mess
noun
1.	a state of confusion and disorderliness; "the house was a mess"; "she smoothed the mussiness of the bed"
2.	informal terms for a difficult situation; "he got into a terrible fix"; "he made a muddle of his marriage" [syn: fix]
3.	soft semiliquid food; "a mess of porridge"
4.	a meal eaten in a mess hall by service personnel
5.	a (large) military dining room where service personnel eat or relax
6.	(often followed by 'of') a large number or amount or extent; "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "see the rest of the winners in our huge passel of photos"; "it must have cost plenty"; "a slew of journalists"; "a wad of money" [syn: batch]
verb
1.	eat in a mess hall
2.	make a mess of or create disorder in; "He messed up his room"

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

mess

In addition to the idioms beginning with mess, also see get into trouble (a mess); make a hash (mess) of.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Mess

Mess\, n. Mass; church service. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Mess

Mess\, n. [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.]

1. 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.

At their savory dinner set Of herbs and other country messes. --Milton.

2. 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.

3. A set of four; -- from the old practice of dividing companies into sets of four at dinner. [Obs.] --Latimer.

4. The milk given by a cow at one milking. [U.S.]

5. [Perh. corrupt. fr. OE. mesh for mash: cf. muss.] A disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; hence, a situation resulting from blundering or from misunderstanding; as, he made a mess of it. [Colloq.]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Mess

Mess\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Messed; p. pr. & vb. n. Messing.] To take meals with a mess; to belong to a mess; to eat (with others); as, I mess with the wardroom officers. --Marryat.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Mess

Mess\, v. t. To supply with a mess.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Mess

Mess\, v. t. To make a mess of; to disorder or muddle; to muss; to jumble; to disturb.

It was n't right either to be messing another man's sleep. --Scribner's Mag.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Mess

a portion of food given to a guest (Gen. 43:34; 2 Sam. 11:8).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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