mess
(mĕs)
[Middle English mes, course of a meal, food, group of people eating together, from Old French, from Late Latin missus, from Latin past participle of mittere, to place.]
noun
- A disorderly or dirty accumulation, heap, or jumble: left a mess in the yard.
- A cluttered, untidy, usually dirty condition: The kitchen was a mess.
- A confused, troubling, or embarrassing condition; a muddle: With divorce and bankruptcy proceedings pending, his personal life was in a mess.
- One that is in such a condition: clothes that were a mess after painting the ceiling; made a mess of their marriage.
- An amount of food, as for a meal, course, or dish: cooked up a mess of fish.
- A serving of soft, semiliquid food: a mess of porridge.
- A group of people, usually soldiers or sailors, who regularly eat meals together.
- Food or a meal served to such a group: took mess with the enlistees.
- A mess hall.
verb: messed, mess·ing, mess·es.
transitive verb
- To make disorderly or soiled; clutter or foul: a puppy that still messes the floor.
- To botch; bungle.
intransitive verb
- To cause or make a mess.
- To use or handle something carelessly; fiddle: messed with the blender until he broke it.
- To intrude; interfere: messing in the neighbors' affairs.
- To take a meal in a military mess.
phrasal verbs
- mess around
- To pass time in aimless puttering.
- To associate casually or playfully: liked to mess around with pals on days off.
- Informal To be sexually unfaithful.
- mess up
- Informal To make a mistake, especially from nervousness or confusion: messed up and dropped the ball.
- Slang To beat up; manhandle: got messed up in a brawl.
