mess

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English[edit]

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Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English mes, partly from Old English mēse, mēose (table; that which is on a table; dish, food; meal, dinner; see mese); and partly from Old French mes, Late Latin missum, from mittere (“to put, place”) (e.g. on the table), Latin mittere (“to send”). See mission, and compare Mass (“religious service”). More at mese; see also mease.

Noun[edit]

mess (plural messes)

  1. (obsolete) Mass; a church service.
  2. (archaic) 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 an animal at one time.
    A mess of pottage.
    • Milton
      At their savoury dinner set / Of herbs and other country messes.
  3. A number of persons who eat together, and for whom food is prepared in common, especially military personnel 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).
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Latimer to this entry?)
  5. (US) The milk given by a cow at one milking.
Translations[edit]
church service — see Mass
Derived terms[edit]
Derived terms
Further reading[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.

Further reading[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Perhaps a corruption of Middle English mesh (“for mash”), compare muss, or derived from Etymology 1 "mixed foods, as for animals".

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]

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (transitive) To make a mess of.
  2. (transitive) To throw into confusion.
    • Scribner's Magazine
      It wasn't right either to be messing another man's sleep.
  3. (intransitive) To interfere.
    This doesn't concern you. Don't mess.
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from "mess"

Further reading[edit]

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Manx[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Irish mes.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

mess m (genitive singular mess, plural messyn)

  1. (botany) fruit

Derived terms[edit]

Mutation[edit]

Manx mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
mess vess unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Vilamovian[edit]

Noun[edit]

mess n

  1. brass

Related terms[edit]

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