Mess

Mass; church service.

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.

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.

A set of four; -- from the old practice of dividing companies into sets of four at dinner.

The milk given by a cow at one milking.

A disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; hence, a situation resulting from blundering or from misunderstanding; as, he made a mess of it.

To take meals with a mess; to belong to a mess; to eat (with others); as, I mess with the wardroom officers.

To supply with a mess.

soft semiliquid food; "a mess of porridge"

a meal eaten in a mess hall by service personnel

informal terms for a difficult situation; "he got into a terrible fix"; "he made a muddle of his marriage"

a state of confusion and disorderliness; "the house was a mess"; "she smoothed the mussiness of the bed"