mess

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Wikipedia

Contents 1 English 1.1 Pronunciation 1.2 Etymology 1 1.2.1 Noun 1.2.1.1 Translations 1.2.1.2 Derived terms 1.2.2 Verb 1.3 Etymology 2 1.3.1 Noun 1.3.1.1 Quotations 1.3.1.2 Synonyms 1.3.1.3 Translations 1.3.1.4 Derived terms 1.4 References 2 Manx 2.1 Noun

[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /mɛs/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

  Rhymes: -ɛs

[edit] Etymology 1

Middle English mes, Old French mets, Late Latin missum, < mittere (“‘to put, place’”) (e.g. on the table), Latin mittere (“‘to send’”). See mission, and compare Mass (“‘religious service’”).

[edit] Noun

Wikipedia

mess (plural messes)

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 a beast at one time.

   A mess of pottage.

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.

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.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Derived terms

• mess hall
• lose the number of one’s mess

[edit] Verb

to mess (third-person singular simple present messes, present participle messing, simple past and past participle messed)

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.

[edit] Etymology 2

Perhaps a corruption of Middle English mesh (“‘for mash’”), compare muss.

[edit] Noun

mess (uncountable)

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.

2. (colloquial) A large quantity or number.

   My boss dumped a whole mess of projects on my desk today.

[edit] Quotations

• For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.

[edit] Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:disorder

[edit] Translations

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] References

• mess in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

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[edit] Manx

[edit] Noun

mess

1. fruit