Adjacent Words

Mess definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MESS, n. [L. mensa.]
1. A dish or a quantity of food prepared or set on a table at one time; as a mess of pottage; a mess of herbs; a mess of broth.
2. A medley; a mixed mass; a quantity.
3. As much provender or grain as is given to a beast at once.
4. A number of persons who eat together; among seamen and soldiers.
MESS, v.i. To eat; to feed.
1. To associate at the same table; to eat in company, as seamen.
MESS, v.t. To supply with a mess.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a state of confusion and disorderliness; "the house was a mess"; "she smoothed the mussiness of the bed" [syn: mess, messiness, muss, mussiness]
2: informal terms for a difficult situation; "he got into a terrible fix"; "he made a muddle of his marriage" [syn: fix, hole, jam, mess, muddle, pickle, kettle of fish]
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 [syn: mess, mess hall]
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, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint, mountain, muckle, passel, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad] v
1: eat in a mess hall
2: make a mess of or create disorder in; "He messed up his room" [syn: mess, mess up]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English mes, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin missus course at a meal, from missus, past participle of mittere to put, from Latin, to send — more at smite Date: 14th century 1. a quantity of food: a. archaic food set on a table at one time b. a prepared dish of soft food; also a mixture of ingredients cooked or eaten together c. enough food of a specified kind for a dish or a meal <picked a mess of peas for dinner> 2. a. a group of persons who regularly take their meals together; also a meal so taken b. a place where meals are regularly served to a group ; mess hall 3. a. a disordered, untidy, offensive, or unpleasant state or condition <your room is in a mess> b. one that is disordered, untidy, offensive, or unpleasant usually because of blundering, laxity, or misconduct <[the movie] is a mess, as sloppy in concept as it is in execution — Judith Crist> <made a mess of his life> 4. a large quantity or number <a mess of problems> II. verb Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to provide with meals at a mess 2. a. to make dirty or untidy ; disarrange — often used with up <don't mess up your room> b. to mix up ; bungle — often used with up <really messed up my life> 3. to interfere with — often used with up <magnetic storms that mess up communications — Time> 4. to rough up ; manhandle — often used with up <mess him up good so he won't cheat us again> intransitive verb 1. to take meals with a mess 2. to make a mess 3. a. putter, trifle <children like to mess around with paints> b. to handle or play with something especially carelessly <don't mess with my camera> — often used with around c. to take an active interest in something or someone <messing around with new video techniques>; also interfere, meddle <messing in other people's affairs> <you'd better not mess with me> 4. to become confused or make an error — usually used with up <got another chance and messed up again>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a dirty or untidy state of things (the room is a mess). 2 a state of confusion, embarrassment, or trouble. 3 something causing a mess, e.g. spilt liquid etc. 4 a domestic animal's excreta. 5 a a company of persons who take meals together, esp. in the armed forces. b a place where such meals or recreation take place communally. c a meal taken there. 6 derog. a disagreeable concoction or medley. 7 a liquid or mixed food for hounds etc. 8 a portion of liquid or pulpy food. --v. 1 tr. (often foll. by up) a make a mess of; dirty. b muddle; make into a state of confusion. 2 intr. (foll. by with) interfere with. 3 intr. take one's meals. 4 intr. colloq. defecate. Phrases and idioms: make a mess of bungle (an undertaking). mess about (or around) 1 act desultorily. 2 colloq. make things awkward for; cause arbitrary inconvenience to (a person). mess-hall a military dining area. mess-jacket a short close-fitting coat worn at the mess. mess kit a soldier's cooking and eating utensils. mess of pottage a material comfort etc. for which something higher is sacrificed (Gen.
25:29-34). mess tin a small container as part of a mess kit. Etymology: ME f. OF mes portion of food f. LL missus course at dinner, past part. of mittere send

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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 1913 Dictionary

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

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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 1913 Dictionary

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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(messes, messing, messed) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If you say that something is a mess or in a mess, you think that it is in an untidy state. The house is a mess... Linda can't stand mess. N-SING: also no det 2. If you say that a situation is a mess, you mean that it is full of trouble or problems. You can also say that something is in a mess. I've made such a mess of my life. ...the many reasons why the economy is in such a mess... N-VAR 3. A mess is something liquid or sticky that has been accidentally dropped on something. I'll clear up the mess later. N-VAR 4. The mess at a military base or military barracks is the building in which members of the armed forces can eat or relax. ...a party at the officers' mess... N-COUNT: usu sing

Easton's Bible Dictionary

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

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

mes (mas'eth): Any dish of food sent (Latin missum; French messe) to the table. It occurs in the Old Testament in Ge 43:34 (twice); 2Sa 11:8 English Versions of the Bible, and in the New Testament in Heb 12:16, translating brosis.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Dish. 2. Set (who eat together), company. 3. Medley, mixture, miscellany, mass, farrago, hotch-potch, hodge-podge, jumble, salmagundi, mish-mash, olio, confused mass, mιlange. 4. Muddle, predicament, plight, confusion, perplexity, pickle (colloq.). II. v. n. Eat in company, take meals at the same table.

Moby Thesaurus

C ration, Chinese puzzle, Gordian knot, K ration, Rube Goldberg contraption, all sorts, allotment, allowance, amount, arsy-varsiness, assemblage, assortment, baboon, bad job, bag, batch, befoul, befuddlement, benasty, bevue, bewilderment, big end, bigger half, bind, bit, bitch up, bite, blemish, blot, blow, blunder, board, bobble, boggle, bollix, bonehead play, boner, boo-boo, botch, botchery, bother, botheration, bread, broad spectrum, budget, bunch, bungle, butt in, cafeteria, can of worms, carrion, chaos, chunk, cloud, clump, clumsy performance, cluster, clutch, clutter, commission, commons, complex, complication, concoction, confuse, confusion, conglomeration, considerable, contaminate, contingent, copse, corrupt, corruption, count, crop, crunch, cut, dally, dandruff, daze, deal, decay, defile, derange, destiny, destroy, difficulty, dilemma, dine, dinette, dining car, dining hall, dining room, dining saloon, dirty, disarrange, disarrangement, disarray, discombobulation, discomfiture, discomposure, disconcertion, dishevel, dislocate, disorder, disorganization, disorganize, disorientation, disturbance, dividend, dog, dole, doodle, dose, embarrassing position, embarrassment, emergency rations, end, entertainment, equal share, error, etourderie, excrement, eyesore, farrago, fate, feed, fiasco, field rations, filth, fine how-do-you-do, fix, flirt, flub, fluff, flummox, flunk, flurry, fluster, flutter, fodder, fog, fool around, foozle, forage, foul, foul matter, foul up, foul-up, frenzy, fright, fuddle, fuddlement, fumble, furfur, gallimaufry, gangrene, gargoyle, gaucherie, gob, gobs, good deal, goof up, grass, gratify, graze, great deal, group, grouping, groupment, grove, gum up, hag, half, halver, harridan, hash, hassock, haze, heap, heaps, hell to pay, helping, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, hobble, hodgepodge, hot water, hotchpot, hotchpotch, how-do-you-do, hunk, hysteron proteron, imbroglio, infect, interest, interfere with, intervene, jam, jumble, jungle, kettle of fish, knot, labyrinth, large amount, lashings, litter, loads, lot, lots, louse up, lump, magpie, mash, mass, maze, meal, meals, meander, measure, meat, meddle with, medley, meed, melange, mesh, mess around, mess hall, mess up, mess with, messroom, mingle-mangle, mint, misarrange, miscellany, miscue, mishmash, mist, mistake, mix, mix-up, mixed bag, mixture, modicum, moiety, monster, monstrosity, morass, much, muck, muck up, mucus, muddle, muddlement, muff, mull, muss, muss up, nasty, no beauty, number, obscenity, odds and ends, off day, olio, olla podrida, omnium-gatherum, oodles, ordure, pack, parcel, parlous straits, part, pass, pasticcio, pastiche, pasture, patchwork, peck, percentage, perplex, perplexity, perturbation, philander, pickle, piece, pile, piles, pinch, play, plight, pollute, portion, pot, pother, potpourri, potter, power, predicament, pretty pass, pretty pickle, pretty predicament, proportion, provision, pucker, puddle, pull to pieces, pus, putrid matter, putter, quagmire, quandary, quantity, quantum, quicksand, quite a little, quota, raft, rafts, rake-off, ration, rations, ravel, refection, refectory, refreshment, regale, regalement, repas, repast, restaurant, rot, ruffle, ruin, rumple, run around, sad work, salad, salle a manger, salmagundi, satisfy, sauce, scads, scarecrow, scatter, scramble, scrape, screw up, screw-up, scurf, scuz, seduce, segment, shambles, share, shock, short commons, shuffle, sight, sleep around, slew, slews, slice, slime, slip, slough, small amount, small share, smorgasbord, smut, snafu, snake pit, snarl, snot, sordes, spate, spot, spread, squeeze, stack, stacks, stake, stew, sticky wicket, stock, stook, strait, straits, stumble, sully, sum, sustain, swamp, sweat, swivet, table, taint, tamper with, tangle, tangled skein, tarnish, teratism, thicket, tidy sum, tight spot, tight squeeze, tightrope, tinker, tizzy, topsy-turviness, topsy-turvydom, tousle, toy, treat, tricky spot, trifle, trip, trouble, tucker, tuft, tumble, turmoil, turn upside down, tussock, ugly duckling, unholy mess, unsettlement, untidiness, upset, wad, wads, washout, webwork, welter, what you will, wheels within wheels, whole slew, wilderness, wine and dine, wisp, witch, wreck, wreckage