Definition of "mess" in Anglais

noun

1. 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?
   • He made a mess of it.
   • My bedroom is such a mess; I need to tidy up.

2. (colloquial) a large quantity or number

   • My boss dumped a whole mess of projects on my desk today.
   • She brought back a mess of fish to fix for supper.

3. (euphemistic) excrement.

   • There was dog mess all along the street.
   • Did you hear that? It scared the mess out of me.

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

   • Between the pain and the depression, I'm a mess.
   • He's been a mess and a half ever since you excommunicated him.

verb

1. (transitive, often used with "up") To make untidy or dirty.

2. (transitive, often used with "up") To throw into disorder or to ruin.

3. (intransitive) To interfere.

   • This doesn't concern you. Don't mess.

noun

1. (obsolete) Mass; a church service.

2. (archaic) A quantity of food set on a table at one time; provision of food for a person or party for one meal; also, the food given to an animal at one time.

   • c. 1555, Hugh Latimer, letter to one in prison for the profession of the Gospel a mess of pottage

3. (collective) A number of persons who eat together, and for whom food is prepared in common, especially military personnel who eat at the same table.

   • the wardroom mess

4. A building or room in which mess is eaten.

5. (India) a type of restaurant characterized by homely-style cooking and food.

6. A set of four (from the old practice of dividing companies into sets of four at dinner).

7. (US) The milk given by a cow at one milking.

8. (collective) A group of iguanas.

9. (cooking) A dessert of fruit and cream, similar to a fool.

verb

1. (intransitive) To take meals with a mess.