mess

Universal Words noun, verb noun untidy state 1 [C,usually sing.] a dirty or untidy state: The room was in a mess. * The kids made a mess in the bathroom. * ' What a mess!' she said, surveying the scene after the party. * My hair's a real mess! difficult situation 2 [C,usually sing.] a situation that is full of problems, usually because of a lack of organization or because of mistakes that sb has made: The economy is in a mess. * I feel I've made a mess of things. * The whole situation is a mess. * Let's try to sort out the mess. * The biggest question is how they got into this mess in the first place. * (ironic) That's another fine mess you've got us into. untidy person 3 [sing.] a person who is dirty or whose clothes and hair are not tidy: You're a mess! animal waste 4 [U,C] (informal) the EXCREMENT (= solid waste matter) of an animal, usually a dog or cat a lot 5 a ~ of sth (AmE, informal) a lot of sth: There's a mess of fish down there, so get your lines in the water. armed forces 6 (also mess hall especially in AmE) a building or room in which members of the armed forces have their meals: the officers' mess verb make untidy 1 [VN] (informal, especially AmE) to make sth dirty or untidy: Careful-you're messing my hair. of an animal 2 [V] to empty its bowels somewhere that it should not IDIOMS no messing (spoken) used to say that sth has been done easily: We finished in time, no messing. PHRASALVERBS mess around (BrE also mess about) 1 to behave in a silly and annoying way, especially instead of doing sth useful SYNFOOLAROUND: Will you stop messing around and get on with some work? * I messed around in my first year at college. 2 to spend time doing sth for pleasure in a relaxed way: We spent the day messing around on the river. mess around with sb (BrE also mess about with sb) to have a sexual relationship with sb, especially when you should not mess around with sth (BrE also mess about with sth) 1 to touch or use sth in a careless and/or annoying way: Who's been messing around with my computer? 2 to spend time playing with sth, repairing sth, etc. mess sb about / around (BrE) to treat sb in an unfair and annoying way, especially by changing your mind a lot or not doing what you said you would: I'm sorry to mess you about but there are a few last-minute changes. mess up