Definition of mess

• n. - Mass; church service.
• 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 given to a beast at one time.
• n. - 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.
• n. - A set of four; -- from the old practice of dividing companies into sets of four at dinner.
• n. - The milk given by a cow at one milking.
• n. - A disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; hence, a situation resulting from blundering or from misunderstanding; as, he made a mess of it.
• v. i. - To take meals with a mess; to belong to a mess; to eat (with others); as, I mess with the wardroom officers.
• v. t. - To supply with a mess.