mess Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a state of confusion and disorderliness
    messiness; muss; mussiness.
    • the house was a mess
    • she smoothed the mussiness of the bed
  2. noun informal terms for a difficult situation
    kettle of fish; fix; muddle; jam; hole; pickle.
    • he got into a terrible fix
    • he made a muddle of his marriage
  3. noun soft semiliquid food
    • a mess of porridge
  4. noun a meal eaten in a mess hall by service personnel
  5. noun a (large) military dining room where service personnel eat or relax
    mess hall.
  6. noun (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
    plenty; great deal; pot; sight; flock; mint; slew; mountain; deal; wad; muckle; pile; lot; mickle; raft; quite a little; passel; hatful; spate; heap; peck; stack; good deal; batch; tidy sum; mass.
    • 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
  7. verb eat in a mess hall
  8. verb make a mess of or create disorder in
    mess up.
    • He messed up his room

WordNet

Mess noun
Definitions
  1. Mass; church service. Obs. Chaucer.
Mess noun
Etymology
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.
Definitions
  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.
Mess intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Messed ; present participle & verbal noun Messing
Definitions
  1. To take meals with a mess; to belong to a mess; to eat (with others); as, I mess with the wardroom officers. Marryat.
Mess transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To supply with a mess.

Webster 1913