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 aroundInformal
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.
[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.]
mess /ms/ n.1 [C;U] a clutter, disorder: His office is always a mess because he never throws anything away.2 [C;U] a dirty condition, filth: An egg fell on the floor and made a mess.3 [C] trouble, a difficult situation: Shes in a mess because she quit school but has to pay off her student loans. v.messes1 infrml. [I] to mess around: to loaf, goof off: She doesnt work and just messes around watching TV and reading magazines.2 phrasal v. to mess around with s.o. or s.t.:a. [T] to deal with s.o. or s.t. casually, play around with it: He messed around with trying to fix his car himself, then took it to a mechanic.b. [T] to get sexually involved with s.o.: She wont mess around with married men.3phrasal v.sep.to mess up s.t.:a. [T] to dirty, spoil: He messed up his report by spilling coffee on it.b. [I;T] to make a mistake, spoil, (syn.) to goof up: She messed up her report by leaving a lot of mistakes in it.
Thesaurus: messn.1 a shambles, jumble 3 a fix, pickle infrml., muddle.
s/ n. 1 [C;U] a clutter, disorder: His office is always a mess because he never throws anything away. 2 [C;U] a dirty condition, filth: An egg fell on the floor and made a mess. 3 [C] trouble, a difficult situation: Shes in a mess because she quit school but has to pay off her student loans. 
v. messes 1 infrml. [I] to mess around: to loaf, goof off: She doesnt work and just messes around watching TV and reading magazines. 2 phrasal v. to mess around with s.o. or s.t.: a. [T] to deal with s.o. or s.t. casually, play around with it: He messed around with trying to fix his car himself, then took it to a mechanic. b. [T] to get sexually involved with s.o.: She wont mess around with married men. 3 phrasal v. sep. to mess up s.t.: a. [T] to dirty, spoil: He messed up his report by spilling coffee on it. b. [I;T] to make a mistake, spoil, (syn.) to goof up: She messed up her report by leaving a lot of mistakes in it.
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