mess

mess  (ms)

n.

1. A disorderly or dirty accumulation, heap, or jumble: left a mess in the yard.

2.

a. A cluttered, untidy, usually dirty condition: The kitchen was a mess.

b. A confused, troubling, or embarrassing condition; a muddle: With divorce and bankruptcy proceedings pending, his personal life was in a mess.

c. One that is in such a condition: clothes that were a mess after painting the ceiling; made a mess of their marriage.

3.

a. An amount of food, as for a meal, course, or dish: cooked up a mess of fish.

b. A serving of soft, semiliquid food: a mess of porridge.

4.

a. A group of people, usually soldiers or sailors, who regularly eat meals together.

b. Food or a meal served to such a group: took mess with the enlistees.

c. A mess hall.

v. messed, mess·ing, mess·es

v.tr.

1. To make disorderly or soiled; clutter or foul: a puppy that still messes the floor.

2. To botch; bungle.

v.intr.

1. To cause or make a mess.

2. To use or handle something carelessly; fiddle: messed with the blender until he broke it.

3. To intrude; interfere: messing in the neighbors' affairs.

4. To take a meal in a military mess.

Phrasal Verbs:

mess around Informal

1. To pass time in aimless puttering.

2. To associate casually or playfully: liked to mess around with pals on days off.

3. Informal To be sexually unfaithful.

mess up

1. Informal To make a mistake, especially from nervousness or confusion: messed up and dropped the ball.

2. Slang To beat up; manhandle: got messed up in a brawl.

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[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.]

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mess

Noun

1. a state of untidiness or confusion, esp. a dirty or unpleasant one: the house was in a mess

2. a confused and difficult situation; muddle: the firm is in a terrible financial mess

3. Informal a dirty or untidy person or thing: there was a nasty burnt mess in the saucepan

4. a building providing catering, and sometimes recreation, facilities for service personnel

5. a group of service personnel who regularly eat together

6. Old-fashioned a portion of soft or runny food: a mess of pottage

Verb

(of service personnel) to eat in a group

See also mess about, mess up, mess with [Old French mes dish of food]

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Mess a confused mixture; a group of four; a group of people who regularly eat together; the quantity of milk at one milking; a quantity of food; a haul of fish. Also, officers’ mess, sergeants’ mess, etc.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	mess - a state of confusion and disorderliness; "the house was a mess"; "she smoothed the mussiness of the bed" messiness, muss, mussiness disorderliness, disorder - a condition in which things are not in their expected places; "the files are in complete disorder"
	2.	mess - informal terms for a difficult situation; "he got into a terrible fix"; "he made a muddle of his marriage" fix, kettle of fish, muddle, pickle, jam, hole difficulty - a condition or state of affairs almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring great effort to bear or overcome; "grappling with financial difficulties" dog's breakfast, dog's dinner - a poor job; a mess; "they made a real dog's breakfast of that job"
	3.	mess - soft semiliquid food; "a mess of porridge" aliment, alimentation, nourishment, nutriment, sustenance, victuals, nutrition - a source of materials to nourish the body
	4.	mess - a meal eaten in a mess hall by service personnel meal, repast - the food served and eaten at one time
	5.	mess - a (large) military dining room where service personnel eat or relax mess hall dining room, dining-room - a room used for dining officer's mess - a mess for the exclusive use of officers training table - planned meals for athletes in training (usually served in a mess hall) armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; "the military machine is the same one we faced in 1991 but now it is weaker"
	6.	mess - (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent; "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "see the rest of the winners in our huge passel of photos"; "it must have cost plenty"; "a slew of journalists"; "a wad of money" good deal, great deal, hatful, lot, muckle, passel, peck, mickle, mint, quite a little, slew, spate, tidy sum, wad, stack, raft, mountain, pile, plenty, mass, batch, heap, deal, flock, pot, sight large indefinite amount, large indefinite quantity - an indefinite quantity that is above the average in size or magnitude deluge, flood, inundation, torrent - an overwhelming number or amount; "a flood of requests"; "a torrent of abuse" haymow - a mass of hay piled up in a barn for preservation
Verb	1.	mess - eat in a mess hall armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; "the military machine is the same one we faced in 1991 but now it is weaker" eat - eat a meal; take a meal; "We did not eat until 10 P.M. because there were so many phone calls"; "I didn't eat yet, so I gladly accept your invitation"
	2.	mess - make a mess of or create disorder in; "He messed up his room" mess up disarray, disorder - bring disorder to

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mess

noun 1. untidiness, disorder, confusion, chaos, turmoil, litter, clutter, disarray, jumble, disorganization, grot (slang) dirtiness

noun 2. shambles, botch, hash, cock-up Brit. (slang) state, bodge (informal) pig's breakfast (informal)

noun 3. difficulty, dilemma, plight, spot (informal) hole (informal) fix (informal) jam (informal) hot water (informal) stew (informal) mix-up, muddle, pickle (informal) uphill S. African predicament, deep water, perplexity, tight spot, imbroglio, fine kettle of fish (informal)

mess about or around

1. potter about, dabble, amuse yourself, footle (informal) fool about or around, muck about or around (informal) play about or around

2. meddle, play, interfere, toy, fiddle (informal) tamper, tinker, trifle, fool about or around

mess something up

1. botch, bungle, make a hash of (informal) make a nonsense of, make a pig's ear of (informal) cock something up Brit. (slang) muck something up Brit. (slang) muddle something up

2. dirty, foul, litter, pollute, clutter, besmirch, disarrange, befoul, dishevel

mess with something or someone interfere with, play with, fiddle with (informal) tamper with, tinker with, meddle with

Translations

mess [mɛs] n → confusión f [of objects] → revoltijo (= tangle); lío;

(MIL) → comedor m;

to be (in) a mess [room] → estar revuelto;

to be/get o.s. in a mess → estar/meterse en un lío

mess about, mess around vi (col) → perder el tiempo (= pass the time); pasar el rato

mess about or around with vt fus (col) (= play with); divertirse con: (= handle); manosear

mess up vt (= disarrange) → desordenar (= spoil); estropear (= dirty); ensuciar

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mess [mɛs] n → désordre m, fouillis m, pagaille f (= muddle) (of life) → gâchis m: (of economy) → pagaille f (= dirt); saleté f;

(Mil) → mess m, cantine f;

to be (in) a mess → être en désordre;

to be/get o.s. in a mess (fig) → être/se mettre dans le pétrin

mess about or around (inf) vi → perdre son temps

mess about or around with vt fus (inf) → chambarder, tripoter

mess up vt (= dirty) → salir (= spoil); gâcher

mess with (inf) vt fus (= challenge, confront) → se frotter à (= interfere with); toucher à

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mess [mɛs] n → Durcheinander nt;

(dirt) → Dreck m;

(Mil) → Kasino nt;

to be in a mess (untidy) → unordentlich sein;

(in difficulty) → in Schwierigkeiten stecken;

to be a mess (fig) (life) → verkorkst sein;

to get o.s. in a mess → in Schwierigkeiten geraten

mess about mess (inf) vi (fool around) → herumalbern

mess about with mess (inf) vt fus (play around with) → herumfummeln an +dat

mess around mess (inf) vi = mess about

mess around with mess (inf) vt fus = mess about with

mess up mess vt → durcheinanderbringen;

(dirty) → verdrecken

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mess [mɛs] n → confusione f; disordine m;

(fig) → pasticcio;

(MIL) → mensa;

to be (in) a mess [house, room] → essere in disordine (or molto sporco);

(fig) [marriage, life] → essere un caos;

to be/get o.s. in a mess (fig) → essere/cacciarsi in un pasticcio

mess about, mess around vi (col) → trastullarsi

mess about or around with vt fus (col) → gingillarsi con [+ plans]; fare un pasticcio di

mess up vt → sporcare; fare un pasticcio di; rovinare