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mess

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Mess
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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.
Use mess in a Sentence
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

Synonyms:
3. muddle, farrago, hodgepodge. 4. predicament, plight, muddle, pickle. 15. confuse, mix up.

Antonyms:
1. tidiness. 3. order. 15. arrange.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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mess   (měs)   
n.  

  1. 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.

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

  2. To botch; bungle.

v.   intr.

  1. To cause or make a mess.

  2. To use or handle something carelessly; fiddle: messed with the blender until he broke it.

  3. To intrude; interfere: messing in the neighbors' affairs.

  4. To take a meal in a military mess.

Phrasal Verb(s):
mess around Informal

  1. To pass time in aimless puttering.

  2. To associate casually or playfully: liked to mess around with pals on days off.

  3. Informal To be sexually unfaithful.

mess up

  1. Informal To make a mistake, especially from nervousness or confusion: messed up and dropped the ball.

  2. 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 © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
mess

  1. n.
    a hopeless, stupid person. : The guy's a mess!
  2. n.
    dung. (Usually with a.) : There's a mess in Jimmy's diapers, Mom.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

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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Bible Dictionary

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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Idioms & Phrases

mess

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

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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