| 释义 |
▪ I. mess, n.|mɛs|
Forms: 3–6 mes, (3 meisse), 4–5 mees, 4–7 messe, 5–6 mese, Sc. mais, (6 Sc. meis, 7 Sc. meiss), 5–7 measse, 6 mease, meace (meesse, meece), 5– mess.
[a. OF. mes = sense 1 below (mod.F. mets viand, dish) = It. messo course of a repast:—late L. missum, neut. pa. pple. of L. mittĕre to send (in Rom. use, to put).]
I. Portion of food (and transferred uses).
1. a. A serving of food; a course of dishes; a prepared dish (of a specified kind of food). Now only arch. exc. as in 2.
a1300Cursor M. 12559 Noþer durst þai..brek þair brede, ne tast þair mes Til he..wit beniscun þaim badd. c1330King of Tars 86 The Soudan sat at his des, Iserved of his furste mes. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxiv. 154 Þai bring him mete and euermare fyfe meesez togyder. c1425Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 658/8 Hoc frustrum, mese, gobyt. 1577Holinshed Chron. III. 920/1 The which [servants] togither kept also a continuall messe in the hall. 1604Shakes. Oth. iv. i. 211, I will chop her into Messes: Cuckold me? 1631Heywood Eng. Eliz. (1641) 175 Before the second messe came in, he fell sick at the table. 1751Hume A Dialogue in Enq. Princ. Morals 228 My friend Alcheic form'd once a Party for my Entertainment,..and each of us brought his Mess along with him. 1819Byron Juan ii. xli, For want of water, and their solid mess Was scant enough. 1841James Brigand xix, Here comes the old woman with my mess of food. 1888Stevenson Black Arrow 144 Three or four men sat drinking ale and eating a hasty mess of eggs.
fig.1563Foxe A. & M. (1583) II. 1845/2 What an euill messe of handling this Whittle had, and how he was..all to beaten..manifestly may appeare. 1603Dekker Wonderfull Yeare C j b, Most blisfull Monarch..Seru'd with a messe of kingdomes. a1764Lloyd Poet Poet. Wks. 1774 II. 17 As colleges, who duly bring Their mess of verse to every king. 1770N. Nicholls in Corr. w. Gray (1843) 117 In hopes of learning a little profane history to mix with my divine, which is really a bad mess by itself.
†b. worms' mess, food for worms. Obs.
a1300Sarmun vi. in E.E.P. (1862) 2 Þi fleisse nis naȝte bot worme-is meisse. c1460Towneley Myst. xxxi. 118 Ne flesh he was wonte to fede, It shall be Wormes mese.
c. A quantity (of meat, fruit, etc.) sufficient to make a dish. (Now dial. and U.S.) Also, the quantity of milk given by a cow at one milking.
1513More Rich. III (1883) 46 You haue very good strawberies at your gardayne in Holberne, I require you let vs haue a messe of them. a1533Frith Agst. Rastell 242 A shrewd cow, which, when she hath given a large mess of milk, turneth it down with her heel. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. i. 103 Goodwife Keech..comming in to borrow a messe of Vinegar. 1621in Black Bk. Taymouth (Bannatyne Cl.) 313 Off new salt beiff i quarter iiii meiss. 1697S. Sewall Diary (1878) I. 455 Betty gets her Mother a Mess of English Beans. 1775B. Romans Florida 12 (Th.), He told me that his mother had an inclination to eat fish, and he was to come to get her a mess. 1842Knickerbocker XIX. 557 Sally couldn't hardly bring in the pail, she gave such a mess. 1861O. W. Norton Army Lett. (1903) 26 H. and I got enough [potatoes] for a mess, and some parsnips. 1870Lowell Study Wind. 8 His is the earliest mess of green peas. 1872Rep. Vermont Board Agric. I. 197, I tested their milk by weighing every mess for a month. 1877Ibid. IV. 54 We took off what cream arose on the night's mess, and churned it. 1883J. C. Harris Nights with Uncle Remus iii. 30 Brer Rabbit, he hop in, he did, en got 'im a mess er greens, en hop out ag'in.
d. U.S. A take or haul of fish.
1854Thoreau Walden, Spring (1884) 338, I got a rare mess of golden and silver and bright cupreous fishes. 1901R. D. Evans Sailor's Log vi. 59 The captain..sent me a mess of the finest mackerel I ever saw.
e. N. Amer. A quantity or number of something. See also quot. 1970.
1830Mass. Spy 23 June (Th.), We saw yesterday a large mess of early potatoes. 1834C. A. Davis Lett. J. Downing 40 With that, he out with his wallet, and unrolled a mess on 'em. 1854Knickerbocker XLI. 502 There was wolves in the Holler—an unaccountable mess of 'em. 1872Rep. Vermont Board Agric. I. 634 They will dress a mess of ore to any required per cent. 1939L. M. Montgomery Anne of Ingleside xxxviii. 300 Tell Susan Baker I'm much obliged for that mess of turnip greens she sent me. 1956B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) xix. 154 Just before I was set to go on for the second set a big mess of gardenias arrived backstage. 1966W. T. E. Kirkeby Ain't Misbehavin' v. 51 This is Fats Waller, the baby who plays that mess of organ over at the Lincoln. 1970C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 81 Mess, large quantity;..someone..[who] is remarkable or puzzling.
2. a. Applied (in early use only contextually, in later use spec.) to a ‘made dish’, or to a portion or a kind of liquid, partly liquid, or pulpy food, such as milk, broth, porridge, boiled vegetables, etc.
The expression a mess of pottage, proverbially current in allusions to the story of Esau's sale of his birthright (Gen. xxv. 29–34), does not occur in the Bible of 1611, though found in this connexion as early as 1526 (see quot. below). It appears in the heading of ch. xxv. in the Bibles of 1537 and 1539, and in the Geneva Bible of 1560. Coverdale (1535) does not use it either in the text or heading of this chapter (his words being ‘meace of meate’, ‘meace of ryse’), but he has it in 1 Chron. xvi. 3 and Prov. xv. 7.
14..Sir Beues 83 (MS. C.), But onys yn a weke a symple messe Of sodyn barley was hart lees. c1456How wise man taught his son 99 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 173 Bettyr it is..A mes of potage..Then for to have a M. mes, With great dysese and angyr sore. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) i. xi. 30 Som for a messe of potage, with Esau, careth nat to sell the euerlastyng inheritaunce of heuen. a1592Lodge & Greene Looking Gl. Lond. & Eng. (1881) 20, I want my mease of milke when I goe to my worke. 1595Duncan App. Etymol. (E.D.S.) 70 Iusculum, a mease of brue. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. i. 63, I had as lief you would tell me of a messe of porredge. 1632Milton L'Allegro 85 Hearbs, and other Country Messes. 1633Heywood & Rowley Fortune by Land iii. i, Give..a word to the dayry maid for a mess of cream. 1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 41 The Meal makes..good Pottage, and several other Messes. 1711Swift Jrnl. to Stella 23 Dec., I have..eaten only a mess of broth and a roll. 1772–84Cook Voy. (1790) V. 1771 Having observed several messes of porpoise broth preparing. 1884Fortn. Rev. Mar. 379 They are fond of farinaceous messes.
b. A quantity of liquid or mixed food for an animal; a kind of such food.
1738Pope Epil. to Sat. ii. 176 If one [sc. hog]..Has what the frugal, dirty soil affords, From him the next receives it, thick or thin, As pure a mess almost as it came in. 1810Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 251 The infernal mess alluded to..being ordered for race-horses. 1841Browning Pippa Passes ii, 'Tis only a page..Crumbling your hounds their messes! 1860C. M. Yonge C'tess Kate i, [He was] mixing a mess of warm milk for the young calves.
c. In contemptuous or disgusted use: A concoction, jumble, medley.
1828–32Webster, Mess, 2. A medley; a mixed mass. 1836Backwoods of Canada 124 Rice, sugar, currants, pepper and mustard all jumbled into one mess. 1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Mess, a hodge-podge, or dirty, disagreeable mixture. Any culinary preparation that is unpalatable would be called ‘a nasty mess’.
3. a. A state of confusion or muddle; a condition of embarrassment or trouble; esp. in phr. to get into a mess. to make a mess of: to bungle (an undertaking).
1834Marryat P. Simple xxxiii, Here's a pretty mess! if I put on my great coat I shall be dead with sweating; if I put on no jacket I shall be roasted brown. 1862Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) II. 392, I am rejoiced that I passed over the whole subject in the ‘Origin’, for I should have made a precious mess of it. 1875Ruskin Fors Clav. lv. 199 Their affair gets into a mess. 1891S. C. Scrivener Our Fields & Cities 173 But never mind, Charlie boy, keep out of messes.
b. A dirty or untidy condition of things.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1864) II. 193/1 They make it a rule when they receive neither beer nor money from a house to make as great a mess as possible the next time they come. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Mess,..the state of a ship in a sudden squall, when everything is let go and flying.
c. (See quot.)
1844Stephens Bk. Farm II. 165 The London butcher..will..reject such cattle or sheep as are what is termed in a mess; that is, depressed, after excitation by being overlaid or overdriven.
d. colloq. Excrement, esp. of an animal; usu. in phr. to make a mess.
1903in Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v. Mess, sb.2 4. 1928 Kipling Limits & Renewals (1932) 50 It [sc. a dog]'s made a mess in the corner. 1937V. Woolf Years 245 The pigeons were a nuisance, he thought, making a mess on the steps. 1939A. Huxley After Many a Summer i. x. 138 A lovely stinking little baby who still made messes in its bed. 1940N. Mitford Pigeon Pie ix. 144 Perhaps, she thought, the bird wants to go out... It made a mess on her skirt. 1960Woman's Own 6 Aug. 49/2 It's the dog. It made a mess on the carpet. 1972New Yorker 30 Sept. 44/2 Happy..had helped them unpack by..pulling one of Mrs. Webster's dresses from a hanger and then making a mess on it.
e. slang. An objectionable, ineffectual, or stupid person.
1936M. Mitchell Gone with Wind i. vi. 122 ‘Oh,’ thought Scarlett... ‘To have that mealy-mouthed little mess take up for me!’ 1938E. Bowen Death of Heart i. ii. 40 From what you say, her mother was quite a mess. 1965M. Spark Mandelbaum Gate iv. 104 These were lapsed Jews, lapsed Arabs, lapsed citizens, runaway Englishmen, dancing prostitutes, international messes.
II. Company of persons eating together.
4. a. Originally, each of the small groups, normally of four persons (sitting together and helped from the same dishes), into which the company at a banquet was commonly divided. Now only in the Inns of Court, a party of four benchers or four students dining together. Hence, a company of persons (members of some official or professional body) who regularly take their meals together; e.g., the company of judge and barristers who dine together when on circuit (see also b).
c1420Lydg. Assembly of Gods 257 So he her set furst at hys owne messe. c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 1050 in Babees Bk. 72 Bisshoppes, Merques, vicount, Erle goodly, May sytt at .ij. messez. Ibid. 1057 Of alle oþer estates to a messe iij. or iiij. Ibid. 1065 Of alle oþur estates to a messe ye may sette foure & foure. 1591Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) II. 199 For the charges of xij mease, that dyned at his owne house, 2l . 8d . 1607Beaumont Woman Hater i. ii, Nor should there stand any..pyes, at the nether end, fill'd with mosse and stones, partly to make a shew with, and partly to keepe the lower messe from eating. 1654Gataker Disc. Apol. 40 His fellow-Benchers that were in the same Messe with him. 1671H. M. tr. Erasm. Colloq. 395 To every mess of guests set three dishes. 1681Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 99 An addresse..was moved by some in the hall [in Grayes Inn] that day at dinner, and being (as is usuall) sent to the barr messe to be by them recommended to the bench. 1821in N. Eng. Hist. & Gen. Reg. (1876) XXX. 191 Here a number of members [of Congress], vulgarly called a ‘Mess’, put up, and have a separate table. 1866Mansfield School Life (1870) 219 [Winchester], The Præfects' tables in Hall were called ‘Tub, Middle, and Junior Mess’ respectively. 1882W. Ballantine Experiences I. v. 65 page heading, Circuit mess. [Account of its usages, c 1834.] 1899Atlay Famous Trials 388 Dr. Kenealy's fellow-barristers on the Oxford Circuit called upon him to show cause before the mess on the allegation of having [etc.]... He declined to appear, and was duly expelled from the mess.
b. In the Army and Navy: Each of the several parties into which a regiment or ship's company is systematically divided, the members of each party taking their meals together. Phr. to lose the number of one's mess: to die, be killed. Also, the place where food is served (see quot. 1886.
1536Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. (1905) VI. 450 The expensis of xxxij meis of marineris, gunnaris, and utheris in the New Havin. 1599E. Wright Voy. Azores 17 They willingly agreed that every mease should bee allowed at one meale but halfe so much drinke as they were accustomed. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Mess, a particular company of the officers or crew of a ship, who eat, drink, and associate together. 1807in A. Paget Paget Papers (1896) II. 314 If we are going against Copenhagen many of us will lose the number of our mess. 1822Gen. Regul. & Orders Army 123 Commanding Officers are enjoined, when practicable, to form a Serjeants' Mess, as the means of supporting their consequence and respectability in the Corps. 1834Marryat P. Simple xxxiii, I have an idea that some of us will lose the number of our mess. 1840Alison Hist. Europe (1849–50) VIII. liii. §26. 421 The situation of privates who had risen to the officers' mess was not so comfortable. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Mess..a number of men who take their meals together; thus in vessels of war there are ward-room and gun-room messes, comprising commissioned and subordinate officers. The seamen and marines' messes consist of a dozen or more under the superintendence of a non-commissioned or petty officer. 1886Baring-Gould Court Royal iv, When one of H.M. vessels was put in commission, the mess was furnished with new linen, plate, china, glass. 1890G. Stables For England, etc. xvi. 234 The mess to which this man belonged is little more than a hot-bed of mutiny. 1911C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xxx. 260 That meant a ride out to the blacks' camp and some of them losing the number of their mess. It did not matter who was shot. 1934G. B. Shaw Too True to be Good ii. 76 The conversation in the officers' mess doesnt suit me. Ibid. iii. 81 Sweetie. Well, of course. Youre in the sergeants' mess. 1969D. Hay Man in Hot Seat vi. 60 At the Aldershot end of the airfield..stood the long blue-carpeted Mess of the Empire Test Pilots' School.
c. Without article: The taking of such a meal.
1778Camp Guide 7 I'm summon'd to mess. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 294 They will go to mess and live together like soldiers in a camp. 1876Besant & Rice Gold. Butterfly xiii, One evening after mess he told Colquhoun that [etc.].
d. gen. = ‘Table’ (in the senses ‘company at an entertainment’; ‘provision of food’).
1861G. F. Berkeley Sportsm. W. Prairies xiv. 239 He never brought anything from my kitchen to the general mess. 1840Arnold Hist. Rome II. 551 The members of the aristocracy [of Athens] had their clubs, where they habitually met at a common mess or public table. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 26 There were public messes, as they were called, but these were not..analogous to the Spartan Syssitia.
†5. transf. A company or group of four persons or things. Obs.
1526Skelton Magnyf. 1009 Let me se..Yf I can fynde out So semely a snowte Amonge this prese: Euen a hole mese. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 207 You three fooles, lackt mee foole, to make vp the messe. 1593― 3 Hen. VI, i. iv. 73 Where are your Messe of Sonnes, to back you now. a1625Fletcher, etc. Fair Maid Inn iii. i, The messe and halfe of suiters. a1661Fuller Worthies 1. (1662) 13, I meet with a mess of English Natives advanced to that Honour... Yea, I assure you, four Popes was a very fair proportion for England.
punningly.1617(title) Ianva Lingvarvm Qvadrilingvis, or a Messe of Tongves: Latine, English, French, and Spanish. Neatly serued vp together, for a wholesome repast.
6. U.S. Short for mess-beef (see 7).
1859New York Herald Market Report (Hoppe), Prime mess and beef ham. 1884Harper's Mag. July 299/1 [Chicago.] The average weight of the class of animals used for ‘mess’ and ‘canning’ is 950 pounds... The division [of the carcasses] is made into..pieces..viz. loins, ribs, mess, plates, chucks, rolls, rumps, [etc.]... ‘Extra mess’ is composed of chucks, plates, rumps, and flanks.
III. 7. attrib. and Comb. (sense 3) mess-maker; (sense 4), as mess-article, mess-bag, mess-basket, mess-beef, mess-berth, mess-bill, mess-bread, mess-cabin, mess-chest, mess-cloth, mess-deck, mess-dinner, mess-fire, mess fund, mess-gear, mess-hall, mess-kid (see kid n.4), mess-list, mess-making, mess-man, mess-meat, mess-money, mess-pan, mess-pork, mess-pot, mess-room (also attrib.), mess-sergeant, mess-table, mess-tent, mess-tin, mess-traps, mess-writer; mess-boy Naut., one who waits at table in a mess-room; mess-jacket, a short tailless jacket reaching just below the waist-line; mess-kit, (a) utensils for cooking or handling food; (b) (military) uniform designed to be worn at meals. Also messmate.
1828P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 215 All the mess-berths and *mess articles numbered according to their corresponding messes.
1885Outing VII. 55/1 From some dark corner of the *messbags, or petacas, he unearthed a handful of dried apples.
1839Knickerbocker XIII. 211 Tell Margaret to prepare the *mess-basket.
1766W. Gordon Gen. Counting-ho. 319, 45 barrels full bound *mess-beef. 1883P. L. Simmonds Useful Anim., Mess Beef. This is usually put up in pieces of 8 lbs., and sold in tierces of 304 lbs.
1828*Mess berth [see mess article above].
1916F. M. Ford Let. 29 Nov. (1965) 78 Also I have found a considerable portion of my *Mess Bill out of Auction. 1917W. Owen Let. 24 May (1967) 464 There have been a number of Mess Bills, & other cheques drawn lately. 1934E. Bowen Cat Jumps 67 If mess-bills ran up..was John to blame? 1963Times 24 May 14/7 Chits were signed, which sooner or later found their way to the Mess and appeared on one's mess-bill.
1818‘A. Burton’ Adventures J. Newcome ii. 74 The *Mess-boy to the Coppers dragged it [sc. a pudding]. 1955C. S. Forester Good Shepherd 116 A big pot of coffee. And a sandwich. Tell the mess-boy I want one of my specials, 1964O. E. Middleton in C. K. Stead N.Z. Short Stories (1966) 210 The messboy's discreet ropesoles pad patiently to and fro. 1970Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 22 Feb. 5/1 The American trading schooner Nanook arrived. Its messboy had hanged himself for some unknown reason.
1615E. S. Britain's Buss in Arb. Garner III. 628 Baskets for *mess-bread.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Ward-room, the commissioned officers' *mess cabin.
1830J. F. Cooper Water Witch III. ix. 258 The smaller booms with the *mess-chest and shot-boxes were all that lay between the group..and the depths of the ocean. 1858T. Vielé Following Drum 15 A camp-kettle, mess chest, bundle of canvas, and set of tent poles. 1888Century Mag. 851/1 We have a stout four-horse wagon..; in its rear a mess-chest is rigged to hold the knives, forks, cans, etc.
1839C. F. Briggs Adventures H. Franco I. xxiii. 250 Throwing down my knife..I leaped on to the *messcloth, and gave him a blow in the eye.
1855Ogilvie Suppl., *Mess-deck, the deck on which a ship's crew mess.
1803Scott Let. 10 July (1932) I. 195, I can proceed no further being alarmed by the Bugle Call not indeed to summon to battle but to the less hazardous task of a *Mess Dinner where our Society tho' somewhat noisy is very good humoured. 1825H. Wilson Mem. II. 116 The mess-dinner at Lewes..must more resemble a..private party than a mess-room, as they seldom mustered more than seven or eight persons together at table. 1885A. Edwardes Girton Girl I. xiv. 283 The usual guest-night at mess. Curious how precisely alike all mess dinners are.
1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville (1895) I. 24 The various *mess-fires were surrounded by picturesque groups. 1850L. H. Garrard Wah-to-Yah xii. 180 He..walked to a messfire.
1850R. Hort Horse Guards 70 He cannot act otherwise than by occasionally adding to the *mess and the band funds. 1876Voyle & Stevenson Mil. Dict. (ed. 5) 254/1 Married men pay one half if they do not regularly attend the mess, but they pay all contributions to the mess fund. 1970V. Canning Great Affair xii. 216 Ex-pilot officer Robinson, cashiered for fiddling the mess funds.
1890Cent. Dict., *Mess-gear. 1918L. E. Ruggles Navy Explained 98 Mess gear, the tableware, plates, cups, saucers, food containers and implements used by mess cooks.
1862G. C. Strong Cadet Life at West Point 66 We were as unfortunate in the *mess-hall as out of it. 1958Listener 6 Nov. 717/1 Food eaten at the communal mess-hall [in China].
1891E. Kinglake Australian at. H. 91 The *mess-jackets of one or two officers..may be seen, and some naval uniforms. 1905A. M. Binstead Mop Fair i. 10 A tall blonde in a heel-tipping skirt and mess-jacket of blue herring-bone.
1851Catal. Gt. Exhib. 786 Ships'..*mess kid, brass hooped.
a1877Knight Dict. Mech. II. 1421/2 *Mess-kit, that portion of camp equipage consisting of cooking utensils. 1953J. Masters Lotus & Wind vii. 89 His mess-kit was grey and black with silver facings. 1954W. Faulkner Fable (1955) 343 Bottles, old messkits.
1828P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 215 On the *mess-list being arranged upon deck, they are..placed..in their respective messes.
1929D. H. Lawrence Pansies 89 It is hard..to put up with the clever *mess-makers.
a1734North Life Ld. Guilford (1742) 35 This Friendship began by *Mess-making in the Temple-Hall.
1850Punch 20 July 33/1 *Messman wanted for a Cavalry Regiment. 1920Chambers's Jrnl. May 285/2 Understanding the messman to have come off from the Colon with plenty of oysters.
1903Daily Chron. 29 Dec. 5/3 Russia has given..an urgent order for 1,000,000lb. of *mess meat.
1833Marryat P. Simple vi, The three guineas which you received as *mess-money.
1813Niles' Reg. III. 295/2 [List of Military Supplies] *Mess pans. 1846R. B. Sage Scenes Rocky Mts. xxvii. 227 A large tin mess-pan, and a tin-cup and plate for each of its number. 1861O. W. Norton Army Lett. (1903) 35 New knapsacks, canteens..mess pans and a complete outfit.
1832Louisville (Kentucky) Public Advertiser 10 Mar., *Mess and Prime Pork in barrels and half barrels, for sale. 1848Rep. Comm. Patents 1848 (U.S.) 527 The finest and fattest [hogs] making clear and mess pork. 1874C. Geikie Life in Woods i. 10 A piece or two of sailor's mess⁓pork.
1857R. Glisan Jrnl. Army Life (1874) viii. 86, I shall be able to say good bye to the *messpots of Uncle Sam.
1811Sporting Mag. XXXVII. 152 No Officer was permitted to carry the newspapers out of the *messroom. 1855Thackeray Newcomes II. 298 Not disturbed by the mess-room raillery of the Campaigner.
1859Lang Wand. India 361, I will introduce to you all the servants—the *mess-sergeant especially.
1819J. A. Quitman Diary 15 Nov. in J. F. H. Claiborne Life & Corr. J. A. Quitman (1860) I. 42 Mrs. and Miss Griffith, charmed with our *mess-table, became our boarders. 1830M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 45 An officer,..after getting intoxicated at the mess-table [etc.]. 1895M. A. Jackson Mem. Stonewall Jackson xi. 191, I took my meals with him and the staff at their mess-table.
1774Ld. Harris in Life & Services (1845) 34 She..passed close by our *mess-tent. 1916in ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings (1917) 266 A great wind..whines past the *mess-tent.
1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 215 Our men carry a *mess-tin, and a water bottle.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Mess-traps, the kids, crockery, bowls, spoons, and other articles of mess service.
1893W. Forbes-Mitchell Remin. Gt. Mutiny 175 For many years [he] had filled the post of *mess-writer, keeping all the accounts of the mess.
▪ II. mess, v.|mɛs|
[f. mess n.; the senses represent independent formations.]
1. a. trans. To serve up (food); to divide (food) into messes or portions. Obs. exc. dial.
c1390Form of Cury lxii. (1780) 35 Take alkenet..and droppe above with a feþer, and messe it forth. c1430Two Cookery-bks. 30 Florche it a-bouyn with Pome-garned, & messe it; serue it forth. 1530Palsgr. 635/1, I messe meate, I sorte it or order it in to messes, as cookes do whan they serve it. 1886Cheshire Gloss., Come an' tay th' cheilt, wheile aw mess th' dinner for th' men.
b. intr. To prepare messes for animals. rare.
1840Cottager's Man. 36 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, There will be no necessity for messing every time the pig wants a meal.
†2. To divide (a ship's company) into messes. Obs.
1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 39 To messe them foure to a messe. 1690Strutton Relat. Cruelties of French 10 We Mest our selves seven and seven together.
3. a. intr. To take one's meals, esp. as a member of a mess; also rarely to feed upon (a specified kind of food).
1701Farquhar Sir H. Wildair iii. ii, I shall find better mutton commons by messing with you, brother. 1743Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 196 We never us'd to mess together. 1786tr. Beckford's Vathek (1868) 82 It was his horrible look that sent us hither to listen to sermons and mess upon rice. 1833Marryat P. Simple iv, Now that we are in harbour, I mess here. 1876Davis Polaris Exp. vii. 176 The officers who had messed with him,..knew that the life of the expedition was gone.
b. trans. To supply with meals.
1811Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) VIII. 295 The soldiers..were not at all times messed in the manner pointed out by your order. 1882Floyer Unexpl. Baluchistan 79 The Khan..was most hospitable, even to the extent of messing me at his own ‘table’.
4. intr.
a. To make a mess, put things into a disorderly or untidy state; to dabble in water, mud, etc. Also, to ‘potter’, busy oneself in an untidy way, or with no definite purpose or result (const. about or with advs. about, around, away). Phr. to mess about in boats.
1853Mrs. E. Lynn Linton in Life vii. 83, I mess about my flowers and read snatches of French. 1886Tip Cat xix. 263 Messing about with sulphur and lime and all the rest of it. 1886G. Allen Maimie's Sake xxi, Sydney was..messing away..at his nasty chemicals. 1894K. Grahame Pagan P. 129 What boy has ever passed a bit of water without messing in it? 1908K. Grahame Wind in Willows i. 7 There is nothing—absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. 1932Amer. Speech VII. 334 Mess around, to ‘kill time’; to interfere; to meddle. 1957D. Robins Noble One iv. 41, I can't see the attraction of messing around with a lot of sick animals. 1962J. Cannan All is Discovered iv. 87 What he enjoyed was messing about in boats and sitting in the sun. 1964Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) 4 Jan., A few audible reminders to himself to ‘stop messing around’ failed to help matters. 1970H. E. Roberts Third Ear 10/1 Mess around, to engage in a great deal of purposeless activity. 1973Times 18 Apr. 3/2 (Advt.), And if you ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what a company like ours is doing ‘messing about in boats’ he'll tell you we're the world's largest manufacturer of quality inflatable leisure craft.
b. to mess with: to interfere or get involved with; to make a mess of; to trouble or annoy. U.S. colloq. or dial. Cf. sense 7.
1903Dialect Notes II. 299 Mess with, to meddle with; also, to make a mess of. ‘Don't mess with your food.’ 1913Ibid. IV. 5 Mess with, to associate with. ‘We don't mess with those people.’ 1955S. Whitmore Solo 27 And what little lady is going to mess with you. 1955Shapiro & Hentoff Hear me talkin' to Ya 374 The really good musicians are too smart to mess with it. 1956B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) iv. 46 This talk about a big tone messed with Lester for months. 1968E. Gaines in A. Chapman New Black Voices (1972) 101, I never messed with a woman I didn't love. 1971Black World Apr. 66 You hit her with a chair leg. You didn't have no right to mess with that poor girl.
c. to mess up: to make a mess or muddle of a situation; to get into trouble; to become mixed up or involved. U.S. colloq.
1933Amer. Speech VIII. iii. 29/2 Boy, I ain't a-goin' t' mess up no more from now on. 1938M. K. Rawlings Yearling xxiii. 290 If she's nothin' but one o' them leetle ol' chipperdales, why do he mess up with her? 1956B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) iii. 33 When the time came to take those bills off the table, I was always messing up. 1969H. Kohl in T. Kochman Rappin' & Stylin' Out (1972) 110 He wanted to learn badly, they told me, and was messing up by memorizing the signs in the neighborhood and thinking that's all there was to reading.
5. trans. To make a mess of; to disorder, make dirty, soil (a thing); to muddle (a business); to spoil, ruin. Also with up.
1854W. Collins Hide & Seek III. iv. 108 That's the first pair of trousers I ever ventured to cut out for you..; and the long and short of it is, I've messed 'em. 1859C. Reade Love me Little i, It messes one's things so to pick them to pieces. 1862H. Marryat Year in Sweden I. 165 The authorities,..convinced of the folly of messing matters, have caused a plan to be drawn out on a grand..scale. 1883Freeman in W. R. W. Stephens Life & Lett. (1895) II. 275 The friars' churches at Gloucester..are utterly messed and made up into houses. 1901Scribner's Mag. (U.S.) XXIX. 404/1 Lank told him that he had messed the whole business. 1909Dialect Notes III. 349 The house is all messed up. 1919G. B. Shaw Heartbreak House ii. 85, I get my whole life messed up with people falling in love with me. 1959I. Fleming Goldfinger xiv. 194 Bond only prayed that she hadn't got some private plot involving him or Goldfinger that was going to mess up his own operation. 1966Word Study Dec. 3/2 There's no real point in worrying anyhow. It just messes you up.
6. to mess about: to handle roughly or too familiarly; to inconvenience or annoy. Also with around. dial. or colloq.
1874Slang Dict., Mess, to interfere unduly. Costermongers refer to police supervision as ‘messing’. 1901Essex Weekly News 8 Mar. 3/3 Defendant was 77 years old, and had never been messed about by policemen before. 1934A. P. Herbert Holy Deadlock 276 Why should our private lives be spied upon—and messed about in a Court like this? 1955Times 20 May 14/6 If industry is once again going to be messed about by Government interference—more nationalization, more controls. 1957M. Spark Comforters v. 110 Her great desire to travel by train was dispersed by the obvious necessities of going to Mass, and of not messing Laurence around any further. 1973Time Out 2–8 Mar. 14/1 My impression is that when the surge of violence was on—at its height, two years ago—quite a few teachers got messed about. It was somewhere beyond extreme rudeness, but short of your actual NAS physical assault.
7. Sc. To mix, associate with; only in phr. to mess or (and) mell.
1821Galt Ann. Parish xxiv. (1895) 159 She..would not let me..mess or mell wi' the lathron lasses of the clachan. 1822― Steam-boat iv. 88 This is an observe that I have made..since I began..to mess and mell more with the generality of mankind. 1887J. Service Dr. Duguid (ed. 3) 281 He would neither mess nor mell wi' ony o' the new reformers.
▪ III. mess
obs. form of mass n.1 |