D defs.my
Entry 9 senses · 4 variants Webster, 1913

Mess

/(mĕs)/ · IPA /mɛs/
01 n. Mass; church service.
  1. 1.
    Mass; church service.[Obs.]
02 n. 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 …
  1. 1.
    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.
    “At their savory dinner set Of herbs and other country messes.” Milton.
  2. 2.
    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.
  3. 3.
    A set of four; -- from the old practice of dividing companies into sets of four at dinner.[Obs.]
  4. 4.
    The milk given by a cow at one milking.[U.S.]
  5. 5.
    A disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; hence, a situation resulting from blundering or from misunderstanding; as, he made a mess of it.[Colloq.]
03 v. i. To take meals with a mess; to belong to a mess; to eat (with others); as, I mess with the wardroom officers.
imp. & p. p. Messed; p. pr. & vb. n. Messing
  1. 1.
    To take meals with a mess; to belong to a mess; to eat (with others); as, I mess with the wardroom officers.
04 v. t. To supply with a mess.
  1. 1.
    To supply with a mess.
  2. 2.
    To make a mess{5} of; to disorder or muddle; to muss; to jumble; to disturb; to mess up.
    “It was n't right either to be messing another man's sleep.” — Scribner's Mag.