mess

Less common meanings

7. 7
   eating groupnouncollectivecountable

   A group of people who regularly eat together and have their food prepared in common, especially soldiers sharing a table.

   The young officer joined his new mess on the first night aboard ship.

   Sailors in the same mess took turns serving the food.

   Note

   A group defined by its shared table, so the word names people rather than food: the wardroom mess aboard ship is the officers who dine there together. The collective sense was already at home in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. The room where such a group eats is the mess as a place. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • A mess can be a group of people who eat together and share food prepared in common. en.wiktionary.org
   • The wardroom mess aboard ship comprises the officers who dine there. en.wikipedia.org
   • The collective sense appears in William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. en.wiktionary.org
   • Mess can also denote the room where people eat. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   animal droppingsnouneuphemisticcountable or uncountable

   A polite term for excrement, especially animal droppings.

   The new puppy left a mess by the door every morning.

   He stepped in a dog's mess on the sidewalk.

   UsageOften leave a mess or clean up a dog's mess.

   Similardroppings

9. 9
   dirty with wasteverbtransitive

   To soil something by defecating on it.

   The nervous horse messed its stall during the thunderstorm.

   House-training teaches a puppy not to mess the floor indoors.

   Similarfoul, soil, dirty

   Note

   The general verb meaning to make dirty narrows here to one particular kind of dirt. A 2000 installment of Tom Armstrong's comic strip Marvin complains of a baby who does nothing but "cry, eat, and mess your diapers." Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Tom Armstrong created the comic strip Marvin. en.wikipedia.org
   • The installment containing the quotation dates to 2000. en.wiktionary.org
   • The strip contains a complaint that the baby does nothing but cry, eat, and soil his diapers, using the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    verbintransitive

    To take meals together regularly as members of a communal group, especially in the armed forces.

    Aboard the destroyer, the petty officers mess in their own compartment near the galley.

    The lieutenants messed together every night aboard the ship.

    UsageUsually mess together or mess in a place: officers mess together.

    Similareat, dine

11. 11
    nounarchaic

    A serving of food set out at one time: the provision for one person or party at a single meal, or the feed given to an animal.

    At their savoury dinner set / Of herbs and other country messes.

    a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”

    c. 1555, Hugh Latimer, letter to one in prison for the profession of the Gospel a mess of pottage

    Note

    Esau's bargain is the best-known case: the 1537 Matthew Bible sums up Genesis 25 as his sale of a birthright for "a messe of potage." Milton's poem "L'Allegro" sets shepherds at a dinner of herbs "and other country messes."

12. 12
    fruit dessertnouncountable or uncountable

    A dessert made of fruit and cream, similar to a fruit fool.

    For dessert she whipped up a raspberry mess with cream from the farm.

    The summer menu featured a strawberry mess made with softly whipped cream.

    UsageUsed in dessert names such as strawberry mess and Eton mess.

    Note

    Pearson's Magazine (1913) calls Eton "renowned for its messes," with strawberry first and raspberry second, and Lancing College in Sussex has a banana version, Lancing Mess. Lindsey Bareham's Just One Pot (2004) hears in the name either the "disorder" sense or the army word for a meal. Either reading suits a heap of fruit and cream. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Pearson’s Magazine in 1913 described Eton as renowned for its messes, ranking strawberry above raspberry. en.wiktionary.org
    • Lancing College in Sussex has a banana variation called Lancing Mess. resources.finalsite.net
    • Bareham links the dessert’s name with either disorder or military slang for a meal. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    simple restaurantnounIndiacountable

    An eating establishment known for plain, home-style cooking and food.

    The dockworkers ate at a cheap mess by the harbor.

    Every morning the mess filled with regulars wanting a hot breakfast.

    Similardiner, eatery, cafe, canteen

    Note

    An Indian English use, in which a mess is an ordinary public eatery serving home-style food rather than a military dining hall. A reader outside India who meets a mess down the road should picture a homely restaurant open to anyone, not a members-only table for officers or troops. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The home-style restaurant sense is recorded as Indian English. en.wiktionary.org
14. 14
    verbdated

    To provide a person or group with meals, especially in an organized institution.
15. 15
    verbrare

    To soil something by ejaculating onto it.
16. 16
    noun

    A set of four people, as formed by the old custom of dividing a dining company into groups of four.
17. 17
    noundialectal

    The quantity of milk a cow produces in a single milking.
18. 18
    noun

    A group of iguanas gathered or considered together.