mess
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /mɛs/
rhymes: -ɛs
Forms: form: messes
Etymology: From Middle English mes, partly from Old English mēse, mēose (“table”), a vernacular loan from Latin/Late Latin mē(n)sa (“table; meal”); and partly from Old French mes, Late Latin missum, from mittō (“to put, place (e.g. on the table)”). See mission, and compare Mass (“religious service”).
Senses: glosses: Mass; a church service.
examples: text: c. 1555, Hugh Latimer, letter to one in prison for the profession of the Gospel
a mess of pottage
text: At their savoury dinner set / Of herbs and other country messes.
ref: a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC:
text: [Curry] consists of meat, fish, fruit, or vegetables, cooked with a quantity of bruised spices and turmeric […]; and a little of this gives a flavour to a large mess of rice.
ref: 1903, Henry Yule, Arthur Burnell, Hobson-Jobson:
glosses: A quantity of food set on a table at one time; provision of food for a person or party for one meal; also, the food given to an animal at one time.
examples: text: the wardroom mess
text: But that our Feaſts / In euery Meſſe, haue folly; and the Feeders / Digeſt with a Cuſtome,
ref: c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 291:
glosses: A number of persons who eat together, and for whom food is prepared in common, especially military personnel who eat at the same table.
examples: text: The police mess had formerly been a maternity home for the wives of the Sultans of the state. Faded and tatty, peeling, floorboards eaten and unpolished, its philoprogenitive glory was a memory only.
ref: 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 20:
glosses: A building or room in which mess is eaten.
glosses: a type of restaurant characterized by homely-style cooking and food.
glosses: A set of four (from the old practice of dividing companies into sets of four at dinner).
glosses: The milk given by a cow at one milking.
synonyms: slaughter
glosses: A group of iguanas.
examples: text: Eton is renowned for its "messes," and "strawberry mess" is Empress of them all, with raspberry mess as a very good second. It does not at all convey the joys of a "mess" to say that it consists of iced fruit and cream, and somewhat resembles a "fool." It is a thing apart, and should be approached with bated breath and unimpaired capacity.
ref: 1913, Pearson's Magazine, volume 36, part 2, page 373:
text: "I'll stand you both strawberry mess." It was perfectly impossible for David not to feel elated at sitting down to strawberry-mess with two members of the eleven, in the full light of day, and in sight of the school generally […]
ref: 1916, Edward Frederic Benson, David Blaize, page 284:
text: Eton mess, for example, which is another name for strawberry fool, links the name of a famous public school with disorder or the army slang for a meal, [...] One friend remembered a banana mess of mashed banana with two scoops of ice cream and loads of cream, and thought the strawberry version something that might be served at the 4th June College picnic, [...]
ref: 2014, Lindsey Bareham, Just One Pot:
text: Similar desserts [to Eton Mess] include Lancing Mess (made with bananas), served at Lancing College in Sussex, and Clare College Mush[…]
ref: 2015, Darra Goldstein, Sidney Mintz, Michael Krondl, Laura Mason, The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, Oxford University Press, USA, →ISBN, page 243:
text: One Old Etonian rages that at school the dessert was simply called 'strawberry mess' and was very popular in the tuck shop. It is only outside Eton that the school's name has been added. A similar 'banana mess' is credited to School in Sussex, […]
ref: 2020, Nigel Napier-Andrews, Gentleman's Portion: The Cookbook:
topics: cooking
food
lifestyle
glosses: A dessert of fruit and cream, similar to a fool.
Derived terms: Eton mess
hot mess
lose the number of one's mess
mess bag
mess beef
mess cup
messdeck
mess dress
mess hall
mess jacket
mess kit
messless
messmate
mess of pottage
mess room
messroom
mess set
mess tent
mess tin
mess trap
mess uniform
Mills Mess