# mess

Pronunciation: say "MES" /mɛs/

## Noun

1. A disorganized, dirty, or untidy state of things; by extension, a difficult or bad situation.
   - Simple: A dirty or untidy state where things are out of place. It can also mean a difficult or bad situation.
   - _The flooding left the basement in a complete mess._
   - _Their finances were in such a mess that bankruptcy seemed unavoidable._
4. A person overwhelmed by emotional turmoil; an emotional wreck.
   - Simple: Someone who is very upset and cannot deal with their feelings or life.
   - _Grief had turned him into a mess who couldn't focus on anything._
   - _By finals week she was an anxious mess running on no sleep._
5. A room or building in which a communal meal is served, especially for military personnel.
   - Simple: A room or building where soldiers or sailors eat their meals together.
   - _After the drill, the recruits filed into the mess for a hot meal._
   - _The officers' mess stayed open late on celebration nights._
7. A group of people who regularly eat together and have their food prepared in common, especially soldiers sharing a table.
   - Simple: A group of people, especially soldiers, who regularly eat their meals together.
   - _The young officer joined his new mess on the first night aboard ship._
   - _Sailors in the same mess took turns serving the food._
6. A large quantity or number of something. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A large amount or number of something.
   - _Grandma fried up a whole mess of catfish for the family reunion._
   - _We've got a mess of chores to finish before sundown._
8. A polite term for excrement, especially animal droppings.
   - Simple: A polite word for solid waste from the body, especially from an animal.
   - _The new puppy left a mess by the door every morning._
   - _He stepped in a dog's mess on the sidewalk._
12. A dessert made of fruit and cream, similar to a fruit fool.
   - Simple: A sweet dish made of fruit mixed with cream.
   - _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._
13. An eating establishment known for plain, home-style cooking and food. *(India)*
   - Simple: A simple eating place that serves home-style cooking.
   - _The dockworkers ate at a cheap mess by the harbor._
   - _Every morning the mess filled with regulars wanting a hot breakfast._

## Verb

2. To throw into disarray or spoil something completely.
   - Simple: To put something into disorder or to spoil it.
   - _One careless edit can mess up a whole spreadsheet, and putting the columns back in order takes hours._
   - _A gust of wind messed her hair just before the photo was taken._
3. To interfere or meddle, especially in a way that causes problems.
   - Simple: To get involved in something in a way that causes trouble.
   - _He warned them not to mess with his equipment._
   - _She has a habit of messing in affairs that don't concern her._
9. To soil something by defecating on it.
   - Simple: To make something dirty by passing solid waste onto it.
   - _The nervous horse messed its stall during the thunderstorm._
   - _House-training teaches a puppy not to mess the floor indoors._
10. To take meals together regularly as members of a communal group, especially in the armed forces.
   - Simple: To eat meals together as a group, especially in the army or navy.
   - _Aboard the destroyer, the petty officers mess in their own compartment near the galley._
   - _The lieutenants messed together every night aboard the ship._

## Noun

11. 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. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: An amount of food served at one meal, for a person, group, or animal.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To provide a person or group with meals, especially in an organized institution.
- (verb) To soil something by ejaculating onto it.
- (noun) A set of four people, as formed by the old custom of dividing a dining company into groups of four.
- (noun) The quantity of milk a cow produces in a single milking.
- (noun) A group of iguanas gathered or considered together.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–4, 6, 8–9** — One possibility is that it is a corrupted form of Middle English mesh ("mash"), comparable to muss. Another is that it comes from the sense "mixed foods, as for animals." Old English mes ("dung, excrement") is sometimes compared too.
**Meanings 5, 7, 10–13** — Middle English mes blends two sources. One was the Old English word for "table," mēse or mēose, a vernacular borrowing of Latin or Late Latin mēnsa ("table, meal"). The other was Old French mes, which came from Late Latin missum, based on mittō ("to put, place").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mess (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).