mess

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Contents

English [edit]

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Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

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

Noun [edit]

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.
Translations [edit]
Mass; church service
Derived terms [edit]
External links [edit]

Verb [edit]

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.

External links [edit]


Etymology 2 [edit]

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

Noun [edit]

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.
    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.
Quotations [edit]
Synonyms [edit]
Translations [edit]
a disagreeable mixture or confusion of things…
Derived terms [edit]
terms derived from "mess"

External links [edit]

References [edit]

Anagrams [edit]

Manx [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Old Irish mes.

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

mess m (plural messyn)

  1. (botany) fruit

Derived terms [edit]

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