mess

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
mess/mes/

▶noun

• 1 a dirty or untidy state or condition.

  ■ euphemistic a domestic animal's excrement.

• 2 a confused and problematic situation.

  ■ a person whose life is confused and full of problems.

• 3 a place in which members of the armed forces take their meals.

• 4 a portion of semi-liquid food.

• 5 (a mess of) N. Amer. informal a large amount or quantity of.

▶verb

• 1 make untidy or dirty.

  ■ (of a domestic animal) defecate.

  ■ make dirty by defecating.

• 2 eat with someone.

– phrasal verbs
mess about/around behave in a silly way.

■ occupy oneself in a pleasantly desultory way.

mess someone about/around Brit. informal cause someone problems.
mess up informal mishandle a situation.
mess someone up informal cause someone psychological problems.
mess something up informal handle something ineptly.
mess with informal interfere with.

– origin ME: from OFr. mes ‘portion of food’, from late L. missum ‘something put on the table’, past part. of mittere ‘send, put’.