mess

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   soft semiliquid food

   a mess of porridge

2. 2
   noun

   a state of confusion and disorderliness

   the house was a mess

3. 3
   verb

   create a state of disorder in

   I messed up my room while trying to find my passport.

4. 4
   noun

   a thing or group of things in a disagreeable, disorganised, or dirty state; hence a bad situation

   No, look, I know that the place looks like a bit of a mess but it's actually a very delicate ecosystem. Everything is connected. It's like the rainforest. You change one thing, even the tiniest bit, and the whooole rainforest dies. You don't want the rainforest to die, do ya?

5. 5
   noun

   a large quantity or number

   Messerschmidts! A whole mess of Messerschmidts!

6. 6
   noun

   excrement.

   There was dog mess all along the street.

7. 7
   noun

   a person in a state of (especially emotional) turmoil or disarray; an emotional wreck

   Between the pain and the depression, I'm a mess.

8. 8
   verb

   To make untidy or dirty.

   It seems like all you do is cry, eat, and mess your diapers!

Etymology

From Middle English mes, partly from Old English mēse, mēose (“table”), a vernacular loan from Latin/Late Latin mē(n)sa (“table; meal”); and partly from Old French mes, Late Latin missum, from mittō (“to put, place (e.g. on the table)”). See mission, and compare Mass (“religious service”).