Mess

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mÉ›s/
• Rhymes: -É›s

From Middle English mes, partly from Old English mēse, mēose (table; that which is on a table; dish, food; meal, dinner; see mese); and partly from Old French mes, Late Latin missum, from mittere ("to put, place") (e.g. on the table), Latin mittere ("to send"). See mission, and compare Mass ("religious service"). More at mese.

Full definition of mess

Noun

1. (obsolete) Mass; church service.
2. 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.A mess of pottage.
• MiltonAt their savoury dinner set
  Of herbs and other country messes.
3. 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.the wardroom mess
• 1610, William Shakespeare, , IV. iv. 11:But that our feasts
  In every mess have folly, and the feeders
  Digest it with accustom,
4. A set of four from the old practice of dividing companies into sets of four at dinner.
5. (US) The milk given by a cow at one milking.

Derived terms

• Eton mess
• lose the number of one's mess
• mess hall
• mess up
• Mills Mess

Verb

1. (intransitive) to take meals with a mess
2. (intransitive) to belong to a mess
3. (intransitive) to eat (with others)
   I mess with the wardroom officers.
4. (transitive) to supply with a mess

Perhaps a corruption of Middle English mesh ("for mash"), compare muss, or derived from Etymology 1 "mixed foods, as for animals".

Noun

1. a disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; hence, a situation resulting from blundering or from misunderstanding; a disorder
   He made a mess of it.
   My bedroom is such a mess, I need to tidy up.
2. (colloquial) a large quantity or number
   My boss dumped a whole mess of projects on my desk today.
   She brought back a mess of fish to fix for supper.
3. (euphemistic) excrement
   There was dog mess all along the street.
   Parked under a tree, my car was soon covered in birds' mess.

Synonyms

Verb

1. (transitive) to make a mess of
2. (transitive) to throw into confusion
3. (intransitive) to interfere
   This doesn't concern you. Don't mess.

Derived terms

Anagrams

• Mses.