mess

mess1 [ mes ] noun **

▸ 1 when someone/something is dirty

▸ 2 when there are problems

▸ 3 someone with problems

▸ 4 solid waste from animal

▸ 5 mess hall

▸ + PHRASES

1. ) count or uncount a situation in which a place is dirty or not neat:

Your room is a mess; please pick up your toys.

What a mess! she said, looking at the kitchen.

make a mess: Try not to make a mess on the clean carpet.

a ) count something that has been accidentally dropped or carelessly left, that makes a place look dirty:

I cleaned up the mess with a napkin.

There was a sticky mess on the kitchen floor.

b ) singular someone or something that looks dirty, not neat, or in bad condition:

Look at you you're a mess!

Mark's jeans were a mess by the time he finished painting.

c ) make a mess of something to make something look dirty or not neat:

That wine has made a real mess of the carpet.

2. ) => NOTE singular a difficult situation with a lot of problems, especially because people have made mistakes:

an economic mess

get into a mess: I don't know how we got into this mess.

get someone into a mess: You got me into this mess in the first place.

a ) make a mess of (doing) something to make a lot of mistakes when you are doing or dealing with something:

Tom felt he had made a mess of his life.

3. ) singular INFORMAL someone who is so nervous or who has so many problems that they cannot have a normal life:

I was a complete mess after the divorce.

4. ) count or uncount solid waste from an animal

5. ) count a room where people have their meals in the military: MESS HALL

a mess of something AMERICAN SPOKEN

a lot of something:

She had a whole mess of dolls in her bedroom.

mess

mess 2 [ mes ] verb *

no messing SPOKEN

used for saying that someone does something in a determined way without wasting time:

He just walked into the boss's office and said he was leaving. No messing!

,mess a`round phrasal verb INFORMAL

1. ) intransitive to behave in a silly way:

Stop messing around I'm serious about this!

2. ) intransitive to spend time doing things in a relaxed way:

We spent the weekend messing around on John's boat.

3. ) intransitive to waste time doing things that are not important:

There's no point messing around. Let's start now.

not mess around: They don't mess around, do they? I ordered the book yesterday and it's already here.

4. ) intransitive to try to change, repair, or play with something, especially when this is unnecessary or unsuccessful:

mess around with: He'll spend hours messing around with that motorcycle.

5. ) intransitive to have sex or a sexual relationship with someone, especially when you should not:

mess around with: Diane's been messing around with a married man.

6. ) transitive mess someone around BRITISH to treat someone badly, especially by changing your mind or not doing what you promised

,mess `up phrasal verb

1. ) intransitive or transitive to make a mistake or do something badly:

She thinks she completely messed up the interview.

You messed up. Don't let it happen again.

2. ) transitive to make something dirty or not neat:

They had managed to mess up the whole office.

The wind had messed his hair up.

3. ) transitive INFORMAL to be the cause of someone's physical, emotional, or mental problems:

Drugs really messed her up.

The virus messed up my body so badly that they told me I was going to die.

4. ) transitive to damage or spoil something:

I'm not going to let him mess up my life.

`mess with or ,mess a`round with phrasal verb transitive INFORMAL

1. ) mess with someone to make someone angry or argue with them:

I wouldn't mess with her if I were you.

2. ) mess with something to become involved with something that is dangerous:

A lot of the kids had been messing around with drugs.

mess with someone's head VERY INFORMAL

to seriously upset someone or make them confused:

Don't mess with my head; are you kidding or not?