mess

English

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Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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

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
Mass; church service
Derived terms
External links

Verb

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


Etymology 2

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

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

External links

References

Anagrams

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Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish mes.

Pronunciation

Noun

mess m (plural messyn)

  1. (botany) fruit

Derived terms

  • messghart
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Last modified on 20 May 2013, at 00:56