# hot mess
## English
### Pronunciation

* (US) IPA: /ˌhɑt ˈmɛs/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)

### Etymology 1

hot (“warm”) + mess (“meal; soldiers who eat together”).

#### Noun

hot mess (countable and uncountable, plural hot messes)
* (military) A warm meal, usually cooked in a large pot, often similar to a stew or porridge; service of such a heated meal to soldiers.
** 1836 April 29, Frederick Marryat, “Snarleyyow, or the Dog Fiend”, in Arkansas Advocate‎, volume vii, number 4, Little Rock, AR, page 1:"Smallbones," said the lieutenant, after trying the hot mess before him, and finding that he was still in danger of burning his mouth, "bring me the red-herring."
** 1852 January 1, F. L. McClintock, “Lieutenant McClintock to Mr. Fegn, Secretary of the Arctic Committee”, in Morning Post‎, number 24355, London, page 3:1 lb. pemican; ¼ lb. pork; ¾ lb. biscuit; ¼ lb flour or bread dust, to mix with pemican into a hot mess;
** 1919, James Thayer Addison, The Story of the First Gas Regiment‎, page 150:I heard several of the enlisted men make the statement that Company C had provided hot mess for fully a thousand men of other units during the second day of the recent drive in and around Cheppy and Charpentry.
** 1974, Langdon Sully, No Tears for the General: The Life of Alfred Sully, 1821-1879‎, page 119:He provided for a hot mess and he got the men up off the floor with improvised bunks.
** 1980, William Manchester, Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War‎, page 260:The men there would have settled for a Coleman stove and a hot-mess line, but the greatest contribution to their spirits, plus or minus, was mail call.

### Etymology 2

hot (“uncomfortable”) or hot (“attractive”) + mess (“disarray”).

#### Noun

hot mess (plural hot messes)
* (informal, chiefly US) A situation or object in a state of extreme disarray.
    Synonyms: train wreck, car crash, dumpster fire, shit show
** 1919 November 13, “The Periscope”, in Camden Post-Telegram‎, number 8134, Camden, NJ, page 5:The politician's in a hot mess since the women got the vote -- his wife threatened not to vote for his candidate unless he wipes the dishes.
** 2019 December 6, Timothy Egan, “America the Hot Mess”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:We’re a hot mess, this bad-tempered country of ours. More than 40 percent of Republicans are slouching toward full-blown autocracy, favorably disposed, in one poll, toward a presidency unfettered by constitutional checks and balances.
* (informal, chiefly US) A disheveled or unbalanced person, particularly one who is nevertheless, or therefore, attractive.
** 2003, Karyn Bosnak, Save Karyn: One Shopaholic's Journey to Debt and Back‎, page 271:My hair had two months of roots exposed. My brows were overgrown. I was a hot mess. And I was fat.
** 2005, Desiree Day, Crazy Love‎, page 72:"Girl, you're a hot mess, but we're cool," she assured her, but her next words were a warning. "But you really need to stop blurting out the first thing that comes to your mind..."
** 2009, Cobra Starship, Hot Mess (song on the album Hot Mess):
    Well, you're a hot mess and I'm falling for you, and I'm like hot damn, let me make you my boo, […] You're a hot mess, I'm loving it, hell yes!
* (informal, obsolete, chiefly Southern US) Trouble.
    I'm in a hot mess.

##### Translations
### Anagrams

* hom-sets