mess
mess definition
mess (mes)
noun
- a portion or quantity of food for a meal or dish
- a portion of soft or semiliquid food, as porridge
- unappetizing food; disagreeable concoction
- a group of people who regularly have their meals together, as in the army
- the meal eaten by such a group
- the place where it is eaten
- a disorderly or confused collection or mass of things; jumble; hodgepodge
- a state of embarrassment, trouble, difficulty, or confusion; muddle
- a state of being disorderly, untidy, or dirty
- ☆ Informal a person in either of these states
- Informal a messy or disorderly place or condition the house is a mess!
Etymology: ME messe < OFr mes < L missus, a course (at a meal), orig. pp. of mittere, to send, put: see mission
transitive verb
- to supply meals to
- to make a mess of; specif., to make dirty, soiled, or untidy; also, to bungle; muddle; botch: often with up
intransitive verb
- to eat as one of a mess (sense )
- to make a mess
- to putter (with)
- to meddle (in or with)
mess Idioms
mess around
or mess about☆- to be busy in a desultory way; putter around
- Informal to become involved (with)
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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