mess

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

mess, n. 

 Mass; church service.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

mess, n. [OE. mes, OF. mets, LL. missum, p. p. of mittere to put, place (e. g., on the table), L. mittere to send. See Mission, and cf. Mass religious service.].

•  A quantity of food set on a table at one time; provision of food for a person or party for one meal; as, a mess of pottage; also, the food given to a beast at one time.  [1913 Webster]

  "At their savory dinner set
  Of herbs and other country messes."  [1913 Webster]
•  A number of persons who eat together, and for whom food is prepared in common; especially, persons in the military or naval service who eat at the same table; as, the wardroom mess.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  A set of four; -- from the old practice of dividing companies into sets of four at dinner.  Latimer.  [1913 Webster]
•  The milk given by a cow at one milking.  [1913 Webster]
•  A disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; hence, a situation resulting from blundering or from misunderstanding; as, he made a mess of it.  [1913 Webster]

mess, v. i. 

 To take meals with a mess; to belong to a mess; to eat (with others); as, I mess with the wardroom officers.  Marryat.  [1913 Webster]

mess, v. t. 

•  To supply with a mess.  [1913 Webster]
•  To make a mess{5} of; to disorder or muddle; to muss; to jumble; to disturb; to mess up.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

  "It was n't right either to be messing another man's sleep."  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

mess, n. & v.
--n.
1 a dirty or untidy state of things (the room is a mess).
2 a state of confusion, embarrassment, or trouble.
3 something causing a mess, e.g. spilt liquid etc.
4 a domestic animal's excreta.
5 a a company of persons who take meals together, esp. in the armed forces. b a place where such meals or recreation take place communally. c a meal taken there.
6 derog. a disagreeable concoction or medley.
7 a liquid or mixed food for hounds etc.
8 a portion of liquid or pulpy food.
--v.
1 tr. (often foll. by up) a make a mess of; dirty. b muddle; make into a state of confusion.
2 intr. (foll. by with) interfere with.
3 intr. take one's meals.
4 intr. colloq. defecate.

Idiom

make a mess of bungle (an undertaking). mess about (or around)
1 act desultorily.
2 colloq. make things awkward for; cause arbitrary inconvenience to (a person). mess-hall a military dining area. mess-jacket a short close-fitting coat worn at the mess. mess kit a soldier's cooking and eating utensils. mess of pottage a material comfort etc. for which something higher is sacrificed (Gen. 25:29-34). mess tin a small container as part of a mess kit.

Etymology

ME f. OF mes portion of food f. LL missus course at dinner, past part. of mittere send

THESAURUS

mess

C ration, Chinese puzzle, Gordian knot, K ration, Rube Goldberg contraption, all sorts, allotment, allowance, amount, arsy-varsiness, assemblage, assortment, baboon, bad job, bag, batch, befoul, befuddlement, benasty, bevue, bewilderment, big end, bigger half, bind, bit, bitch up, bite, blemish, blot, blow, blunder, board, bobble, boggle, bollix, bonehead play, boner, boo-boo, botch, botchery, bother, botheration, bread, broad spectrum, budget, bunch, bungle, butt in, cafeteria, can of worms, carrion, chaos, chunk, cloud, clump, clumsy performance, cluster, clutch, clutter, commission, commons, complex, complication, concoction, confuse, confusion, conglomeration, considerable, contaminate, contingent, copse, corrupt, corruption, count, crop, crunch, cut, dally, dandruff, daze, deal, decay, defile, derange, destiny, destroy, difficulty, dilemma, dine, dinette, dining car, dining hall, dining room, dining saloon, dirty, disarrange, disarrangement, disarray, discombobulation, discomfiture, discomposure, disconcertion, dishevel, dislocate, disorder, disorganization, disorganize, disorientation, disturbance, dividend, dog, dole, doodle, dose, embarrassing position, embarrassment, emergency rations, end, entertainment, equal share, error, etourderie, excrement, eyesore, farrago, fate, feed, fiasco, field rations, filth, fine how-do-you-do, fix, flirt, flub, fluff, flummox, flunk, flurry, fluster, flutter, fodder, fog, fool around, foozle, forage, foul, foul matter, foul up, foul-up, frenzy, fright, fuddle, fuddlement, fumble, furfur, gallimaufry, gangrene, gargoyle, gaucherie, gob, gobs, good deal, goof up, grass, gratify, graze, great deal, group, grouping, groupment, grove, gum up, hag, half, halver, harridan, hash, hassock, haze, heap, heaps, hell to pay, helping, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, hobble, hodgepodge, hot water, hotchpot, hotchpotch, how-do-you-do, hunk, hysteron proteron, imbroglio, infect, interest, interfere with, intervene, jam, jumble, jungle, kettle of fish, knot, labyrinth, large amount, lashings, litter, loads, lot, lots, louse up, lump, magpie, mash, mass, maze, meal, meals, meander, measure, meat, meddle with, medley, meed, melange, mesh, mess around, mess hall, mess up, mess with, messroom, mingle-mangle, mint, misarrange, miscellany, miscue, mishmash, mist, mistake, mix, mix-up, mixed bag, mixture, modicum, moiety, monster, monstrosity, morass, much, muck, muck up, mucus, muddle, muddlement, muff, mull, muss, muss up, nasty, no beauty, number, obscenity, odds and ends, off day, olio, olla podrida, omnium-gatherum, oodles, ordure, pack, parcel, parlous straits, part, pass, pasticcio, pastiche, pasture, patchwork, peck, percentage, perplex, perplexity, perturbation, philander, pickle, piece, pile, piles, pinch, play, plight, pollute, portion, pot, pother, potpourri, potter, power, predicament, pretty pass, pretty pickle, pretty predicament, proportion, provision, pucker, puddle, pull to pieces, pus, putrid matter, putter, quagmire, quandary, quantity, quantum, quicksand, quite a little, quota, raft, rafts, rake-off, ration, rations, ravel, refection, refectory, refreshment, regale, regalement, repas, repast, restaurant, rot, ruffle, ruin, rumple, run around, sad work, salad, salle a manger, salmagundi, satisfy, sauce, scads, scarecrow, scatter, scramble, scrape, screw up, screw-up, scurf, scuz, seduce, segment, shambles, share, shock, short commons, shuffle, sight, sleep around, slew, slews, slice, slime, slip, slough, small amount, small share, smorgasbord, smut, snafu, snake pit, snarl, snot, sordes, spate, spot, spread, squeeze, stack, stacks, stake, stew, sticky wicket, stock, stook, strait, straits, stumble, sully, sum, sustain, swamp, sweat, swivet, table, taint, tamper with, tangle, tangled skein, tarnish, teratism, thicket, tidy sum, tight spot, tight squeeze, tightrope, tinker, tizzy, topsy-turviness, topsy-turvydom, tousle, toy, treat, tricky spot, trifle, trip, trouble, tucker, tuft, tumble, turmoil, turn upside down, tussock, ugly duckling, unholy mess, unsettlement, untidiness, upset, wad, wads, washout, webwork, welter, what you will, wheels within wheels, whole slew, wilderness, wine and dine, wisp, witch, wreck, wreckage

ROGET THESAURUS

mess

Mixture

N mixture, admixture, commixture, commixtion, commixion, intermixture, alloyage, matrimony, junction, combination, miscegenation, impregnation, infusion, diffusion suffusion, transfusion, infiltration, seasoning, sprinkling, interlarding, interpolation, adulteration, sophistication, tinge, tincture, touch, dash, smack, sprinkling, spice, seasoning, infusion, soupcon, alloy, amalgam, brass, chowchow, pewter, magma, half-and-half, melange, tertium quid, miscellany, ambigu, medley, mess, hotchpot, pasticcio, patchwork, odds and ends, all sorts, jumble, salad, sauce, mash, omnium gatherum, gallimaufry, olla-podrida, olio, salmagundi, potpourri, Noah's ark, caldron texture, mingled yarn, mosaic, half-blood, half-caste, mulatto, terceron, quarteron, quinteron, quadroon, octoroon, griffo, zambo, cafuzo, Eurasian, fustee, fustie, griffe, ladino, marabou, mestee, mestizo, quintroon, sacatra zebrule, catalo, cross, hybrid, mongrel, mixed, implex, composite, half-and-half, linsey-woolsey, chowchow, hybrid, mongrel, heterogeneous, motley, miscellaneous, promiscuous, indiscriminate, miscible, among, amongst, amid, amidst, with, in the midst of, in the crowd.

Disorder

N disorder, derangement, irregularity, anomaly, anarchy, anarchism, want of method, untidiness, disunion, discord, confusion, confusedness, mishmash, mix, disarray, jumble, huddle, litter, lumber, cahotage, farrago, mess, mash, muddle, muss, hash, hodgepodge, hotch-potch, hotch-pot, imbroglio, chaos, omnium gatherum, medley, mere mixture, fortuitous concourse of atoms, disjecta membra, rudis indigestaque moles, complexity, turmoil, ferment, to-do, trouble, pudder, pother, row, rumble, disturbance, hubbub, convulsion, tumult, uproar, revolution, riot, rumpus, stour, scramble, brawl, fracas, rhubarb, fight, free-for-all, row, ruction, rumpus, embroilment, melee, spill and pelt, rough and tumble, whirlwind, bear garden, Babel, Saturnalia, donnybrook, Donnybrook Fair, confusion worse confounded, most admired disorder, concordia discors, Bedlam, all hell broke loose, bull in a china shop, all the fat in the fire, diable a' quatre, Devil to pay, pretty kettle of fish, pretty piece of work, pretty piece of business, disorderly person, disorderly persons offence, misdemeanor, slattern, slut (libertine), disorderly, orderless, out of order, out of place, out of gear, irregular, desultory, anomalous, acephalous, deranged, aimless, disorganized, straggling, unmethodical, immethodical, unsymmetric, unsystematic, untidy, slovenly, dislocated, out of sorts, promiscuous, indiscriminate, chaotic, anarchical, unarranged &c (arrange), confused, deranged, topsy-turvy, shapeless, disjointed, out of joint, troublous, riotous, complex, irregularly, by fits, by fits and snatches, by fits and starts, pellmell, higgledy-piggledy, helter-skelter, harum-scarum, in a ferment, at sixes and sevens, at cross-purposes, upside down, the cart before the horse, hysteron proteron, chaos is come again, the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds.

Difficulty

N difficulty, hardness, impracticability, tough work, hard work, uphill work, hard task, Herculean task, Augean task, task of Sisyphus, Sisyphean labor, tough job, teaser, rasper, dead lift, dilemma, embarrassment, deadlock, perplexity, intricacy, entanglement, complexity, cross fire, awkwardness, delicacy, ticklish card to play, knot, Gordian knot, dignus vindice nodus, net, meshes, maze, coil, crooked path, involvement, nice point, delicate point, subtle point, knotty point, vexed question, vexata quaestio, poser, puzzle, paradox, hard nut to crack, nut to crack, bone to pick, crux, pons asinorum, where the shoe pinches, nonplus, quandary, strait, pass, pinch, pretty pass, stress, brunt, critical situation, crisis, trial, rub, emergency, exigency, scramble, scrape, hobble, slough, quagmire, hot water, hornet's nest, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, pretty kettle of fish, pickle, stew, imbroglio, mess, ado, false position, set fast, stand, standstill, deadlock, dead set, fix, horns of a dilemma, cul de sac, hitch, stumbling block, crab, curmudgeon, difficult, not easy, hard, tough, troublesome, toilsome, irksome, operose, laborious, onerous, arduous, Herculean, formidable, sooner said than done, more easily said than done, easier said than done, difficult to deal with, hard to deal with, ill-conditioned, crabbed, crabby, not to be handled with kid gloves, not made with rose water, awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable, intractable, stubborn, perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged, knotted, knotty, invious, pathless, trackless, labyrinthine, intricate, complicated, impracticable, not feasible, desperate, embarrassing, perplexing, delicate, ticklish, critical, beset with difficulties, full of difficulties, surrounded by difficulties, entangled by difficulties, encompassed with difficulties, under a difficulty, in a box, in difficulty, in hot water, in the suds, in a cleft stick, in a fix, in the wrong box, in a scrape, in deep water, in a fine pickle, in extremis, between two stools, between Scylla and Charybdis, surrounded by shoals, surrounded by breakers, surrounded by quicksands, at cross purposes, not out of the wood, reduced to straits, hard pressed, sorely pressed, run hard, pinched, put to it, straitened, hard up, hard put to it, hard set, put to one's shifts, puzzled, at a loss, at the end of one's tether, at the end of one's rope, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, at a standstill, graveled, nonplused, nonplussed, stranded, aground, stuck fast, set fast, up a tree, at bay, aux abois, driven into a corner, driven from pillar to post, driven to extremity, driven to one's wit's end, driven to the wall, au bout de son Latin, out of one's depth, thrown out, accomplished with difficulty, hard-fought, hard-earned, with difficulty, with much ado, barely, hardly, uphill, against the stream, against the grain, d rebours, invita Minerva, in the teeth of, at a pinch, upon a pinch, at long odds, against long odds, ay there's the rub, hic labor hoc opus, things are come to a pretty pass, ab inconvenienti, ad astra per aspera, acun chemin de fleurs ne conduit a la gloire.

Failure

N failure, nonsuccess, nonfulfillment, dead failure, successlessness, abortion, miscarriage, brutum fulmen, labor in vain, no go, inefficacy, inefficaciousness, vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive attempt, abortive efforts, flash in the pan, lame and impotent conclusion, frustration, slip 'twixt cup and lip, blunder, fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip, trip, stumble, claudication, footfall, false step, wrong step, faux pas, titubation, b_evue, faute, lurch, botchery, scrape, mess, fiasco, breakdown, flunk, mishap, split, collapse, smash, blow, explosion, repulse, rebuff, defeat, rout, overthrow, discomfiture, beating, drubbing, quietus, nonsuit, subjugation, checkmate, stalemate, fool's mate, fall, downfall, ruin, perdition, wreck, deathblow, bankruptcy, losing game, affaire flamb_ee, victim, bankrupt, flunker, flunky, unsuccessful, successless, failing, tripping, at fault, unfortunate, abortive, addle, stillborn, fruitless, bootless, ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory, inefficient, insufficient, unavailing, of no effect, aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked, foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited, foiled, defeated, struck down, borne down, broken down, downtrodden, overborne, overwhelmed, all up with, ploughed, plowed, plucked, lost, undone, ruined, broken, bankrupt, played out, done up, done for, dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe, knocked on the head, destroyed, frustrated, crossed, unhinged, disconcerted dashed, thrown off one's balance, thrown on one's back, thrown on one's beam ends, unhorsed, in a sorry plight, hard hit, stultified, befooled, dished, hoist on one's own petard, victimized, sacrificed, wide of the mark, out of one's reckoning, left in the lurch, thrown away, unattained, uncompleted, unsuccessfully, to little or no purpose, in vain, re infecta, the bubble has burst, the jig is up, the game is up, all is lost, the devil to pay, parturiunt montes, dies infaustus, tout est perdu hors l'honneur.

Apportionment

N apportionment, allotment, consignment, assignment, appointment, appropriation, dispensation, distribution, division, deal, repartition, partition, administration, dividend, portion, contingent, share, allotment, fair share, allocation, lot, measure, dose, dole, meed, pittance, quantum, ration, ratio, proportion, quota, modicum, mess, allowance, suerte, apportioning, respective, respectively, each to each.

Food

N food, eating, deglutition, gulp, epulation, mastication, manducation, rumination, gluttony, hippophagy, ichthyophagy, (appetite), mouth, jaws, mandible, mazard, gob, chops, drinking, potation, draught, libation, carousal, drunkenness, food, pabulum, aliment, nourishment, nutriment, sustenance, sustentation, sustention, nurture, subsistence, provender, corn, feed, fodder, provision, ration, keep, commons, board, commissariat, prey, forage, pasture, pasturage, fare, cheer, diet, dietary, regimen, belly timber, staff of life, bread, bread and cheese, comestibles, eatables, victuals, edibles, ingesta, grub, grubstake, prog, meat, bread, bread stuffs, cerealia, cereals, viands, cates, delicacy, dainty, creature comforts, contents of the larder, fleshpots, festal board, ambrosia, good cheer, good living, beef, bisquit, bun, cornstarch, cookie, cooky, cracker, doughnut, fatling, hardtack, hoecake, hominy, mutton, pilot bread, pork, roti, rusk, ship biscuit, veal, joint, piece de resistance, roast and boiled, remove, entremet, releve, hash, rechauffe, stew, ragout, fricassee, mince, pottage, potage, broth, soup, consomme, puree, spoonmeat, pie, pasty, volauvent, pudding, omelet, pastry, sweets, kickshaws, condiment, appetizer, hors d'oeuvre, main course, entree, alligator pear, apple, apple slump, artichoke, ashcake, griddlecake, pancake, flapjack, atole, avocado, banana, beche de mer, barbecue, beefsteak, beet root, blackberry, blancmange, bloater, bouilli, bouillon, breadfruit, chop suey, chowder, chupatty, clam, compote, damper, fish, frumenty, grapes, hasty pudding, ice cream, lettuce, mango, mangosteen, mince pie, oatmeal, oyster, pineapple, porridge, porterhouse steak, salmis, sauerkraut, sea slug, sturgeon ("Albany beef"), succotash, supawn, trepang, vanilla, waffle, walnut, table, cuisine, bill of fare, menu, table d'hote, ordinary, entree, meal, repast, feed, spread, mess, dish, plate, course, regale, regalement, refreshment, entertainment, refection, collation, picnic, feast, banquet, junket, breakfast, lunch, luncheon, dejeuner, bever, tiffin, dinner, supper, snack, junk food, fast food, whet, bait, dessert, potluck, table d'hote, dejeuner a la fourchette, hearty meal, square meal, substantial meal, full meal, blowout, light refreshment, bara, chotahazri, bara khana, mouthful, bolus, gobbet, morsel, sop, sippet, drink, beverage, liquor, broth, soup, potion, dram, draught, drench, swill, nip, sip, sup, gulp, wine, spirits, liqueur, beer, ale, malt liquor, Sir John Barleycorn, stingo, heavy wet, grog, toddy, flip, purl, punch, negus, cup, bishop, wassail, gin, coffee, chocolate, cocoa, tea, the cup that cheers but not inebriates, bock beer, lager beer, Pilsener beer, schenck beer, Brazil tea, cider, claret, ice water, mate, mint julep, near beer, 2 beer, non- alcoholic beverage, eating house, diner, hippophage, glutton, eatable, edible, esculent, comestible, alimentary, cereal, cibarious, dietetic, culinary, nutritive, nutritious, gastric, succulent, potable, potulent, bibulous, omnivorous, carnivorous, herbivorous, granivorous, graminivorous, phytivorous, ichthyivorous, omophagic, omophagous, pantophagous, phytophagous, xylophagous, across the walnuts and the wine, blessed hour of our dinners!, now good digestion wait on appetite, and health on both!, who can cloy the hungry edge of appetite?.