1. [n]  a (large) military dining room where service personnel eat or relax
2. [n]  a meal eaten by service personnel
3. [n]  soft semiliquid food; "a mess of porridge"
4. [n]  (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent; "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "it must have cost plenty"
5. [n]  informal terms for a difficult situation; "he got into a terrible fix"; "he made a muddle of his marriage"
6. [n]  a state of confusion and disorderliness; "the house was a mess"; "she smoothed the mussiness of the bed"
7. [v]  make a mess of or create disorder in; "He messed up his room"
8. [v]  eat in a mess; in the military

1. \Mess\, n.
   Mass; church service. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
   

2. \Mess\, n. [OE. mes, OF. mets, LL. missum, p. p. of mittere
   to put, place (e. g., on the table), L. mittere to send. See
   {Mission}, and cf. {Mass} religious service.]
   1. 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.
            At their savory dinner set Of herbs and other
            country messes.                       --Milton.
   2. 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. --Shak.
   3. A set of four; -- from the old practice of dividing
      companies into sets of four at dinner. [Obs.] --Latimer.
   4. The milk given by a cow at one milking. [U.S.]
   5. [Perh. corrupt. fr. OE. mesh for mash: cf. muss.] A
      disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; hence, a
      situation resulting from blundering or from
      misunderstanding; as, he made a mess of it. [Colloq.]
   

3. \Mess\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Messed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Messing}.]
   To take meals with a mess; to belong to a mess; to eat (with
   others); as, I mess with the wardroom officers. --Marryat.
   

4. \Mess\, v. t.
   To supply with a mess.
   

5. \Mess\, v. t.
   To make a mess of; to disorder or muddle; to muss; to jumble;
   to disturb.
         It was n't right either to be messing another man's
         sleep.                                   --Scribner's
                                                  Mag.
   

a portion of food given to a guest (Gen. 43:34; 2 Sam. 11:8).