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Mess
Definitions
- 1 A surname from German.
- 1 a thing or group of things in a disagreeable, disorganised, or dirty state; hence a bad situation countable, uncountable
"No, look, I know that the place looks like a bit of a mess but it's actually a very delicate ecosystem. Everything is connected. It's like the rainforest. You change one thing, even the tiniest bit, and the whooole rainforest dies. You don't want the rainforest to die, do ya?"
- 2 Mass; a church service. obsolete
- 3 a (large) military dining room where service personnel eat or relax wordnet
- 4 a large quantity or number colloquial, countable, uncountable
"Messerschmidts! A whole mess of Messerschmidts!"
- 5 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. archaic
"c. 1555, Hugh Latimer, letter to one in prison for the profession of the Gospel a mess of pottage"
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- 6 a meal eaten in a mess hall by service personnel wordnet
- 7 excrement. countable, euphemistic, uncountable
"There was dog mess all along the street."
- 8 A number of persons who eat together, and for whom food is prepared in common, especially military personnel who eat at the same table. collective
"the wardroom mess"
- 9 soft semiliquid food wordnet
- 10 a person in a state of (especially emotional) turmoil or disarray; an emotional wreck countable, figuratively, uncountable
"Between the pain and the depression, I'm a mess."
- 11 A building or room in which mess is eaten.
"The police mess had formerly been a maternity home for the wives of the Sultans of the state. Faded and tatty, peeling, floorboards eaten and unpolished, its philoprogenitive glory was a memory only."
- 12 (often followed by ‘of’) a large number or amount or extent wordnet
- 13 a type of restaurant characterized by homely-style cooking and food. India
- 14 informal terms for a difficult situation wordnet
- 15 A set of four (from the old practice of dividing companies into sets of four at dinner).
- 16 a state of confusion and disorderliness wordnet
- 17 The milk given by a cow at one milking. US
- 18 A group of iguanas. collective
- 19 A dessert of fruit and cream, similar to a fool.
"Eton is renowned for its "messes," and "strawberry mess" is Empress of them all, with raspberry mess as a very good second. It does not at all convey the joys of a "mess" to say that it consists of iced fruit and cream, and somewhat resembles a "fool." It is a thing apart, and should be approached with bated breath and unimpaired capacity."
- 1 To make untidy or dirty.; To make soiled by defecating. often, transitive
"It seems like all you do is cry, eat, and mess your diapers!"
- 2 To take meals with a mess. intransitive
- 3 make a mess of or create disorder in wordnet
- 4 To make untidy or dirty.; To make soiled by ejaculating. often, transitive
- 5 To belong to a mess. intransitive
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- 6 eat in a mess hall wordnet
- 7 To throw into disorder or to ruin. often, transitive
"But it wasn't right to be messing another man's sleep with tidal waves that didn't belong to the other man."
- 8 To eat (with others). intransitive
"Resolved 18. That no Guide or Interpreter whether at the Factory Depot or Inland be permitted to mess with Commissioned Gentlemen or Clerks in charge of Posts; but while at the Depot they will be allowed per Week 4 days ordinary rations..."
- 9 To interfere. intransitive
"This doesn't concern you. Don't mess."
- 10 To supply with a mess. transitive
Etymology
Perhaps a corruption of Middle English mesh (“mash”), compare muss, or derived from Etymology 2 "mixed foods, as for animals". Compare also Old English mes (“dung, excrement”).
Perhaps a corruption of Middle English mesh (“mash”), compare muss, or derived from Etymology 2 "mixed foods, as for animals". Compare also Old English mes (“dung, excrement”).
From Middle English mes, partly from Old English mēse, mēose (“table”), a vernacular loan from Latin/Late Latin mē(n)sa (“table; meal”); and partly from Old French mes, Late Latin missum, from mittō (“to put, place (e.g. on the table)”). See mission, and compare Mass (“religious service”).
From Middle English mes, partly from Old English mēse, mēose (“table”), a vernacular loan from Latin/Late Latin mē(n)sa (“table; meal”); and partly from Old French mes, Late Latin missum, from mittō (“to put, place (e.g. on the table)”). See mission, and compare Mass (“religious service”).
Borrowed from German Mess.
See also for "mess"
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