The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Mess \Mess\ (m[e^]s), n.
   Mass; church service. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Mess \Mess\ (m[e^]s), 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.
      [1913 Webster]

            At their savory dinner set
            Of herbs and other country messes.    --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A set of four; -- from the old practice of dividing
      companies into sets of four at dinner. [Obs.] --Latimer.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. The milk given by a cow at one milking. [U.S.]
      [1913 Webster]

   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.]
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Mess \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.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Mess \Mess\, v. t.
   1. To supply with a mess.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To make a mess[5] of; to disorder or muddle; to muss; to
      jumble; to disturb; to mess up.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

            It was n't right either to be messing another man's
            sleep.                                --Scribner's
                                                  Mag.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

mess
    n 1: a state of confusion and disorderliness; "the house was a
         mess"; "she smoothed the mussiness of the bed" [syn:
         mess, messiness, muss, mussiness]
    2: informal terms for a difficult situation; "he got into a
       terrible fix"; "he made a muddle of his marriage" [syn:
       fix, hole, jam, mess, muddle, pickle, kettle of
       fish]
    3: soft semiliquid food; "a mess of porridge"
    4: a meal eaten in a mess hall by service personnel
    5: a (large) military dining room where service personnel eat or
       relax [syn: mess, mess hall]
    6: (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"; "see the rest of the
       winners in our huge passel of photos"; "it must have cost
       plenty"; "a slew of journalists"; "a wad of money" [syn:
       batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal,
       hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint,
       mountain, muckle, passel, peck, pile, plenty,
       pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate,
       stack, tidy sum, wad]
    v 1: eat in a mess hall
    2: make a mess of or create disorder in; "He messed up his room"
       [syn: mess, mess up]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

443 Moby Thesaurus words for "mess":
   C ration, Chinese puzzle, Gordian knot, K ration,
   Rube Goldberg contraption, all sorts, allotment, allowance, amount,
   arsy-varsiness, assemblage, assortment, baboon, bad job, bag,
   batch, befoul, befuddlement, benasty, bevue, bewilderment, big end,
   bigger half, bind, bit, bitch up, bite, blemish, blot, blow,
   blunder, board, bobble, boggle, bollix, bonehead play, boner,
   boo-boo, botch, botchery, bother, botheration, bread,
   broad spectrum, budget, bunch, bungle, butt in, cafeteria,
   can of worms, carrion, chaos, chunk, cloud, clump,
   clumsy performance, cluster, clutch, clutter, commission, commons,
   complex, complication, concoction, confuse, confusion,
   conglomeration, considerable, contaminate, contingent, copse,
   corrupt, corruption, count, crop, crunch, cut, dally, dandruff,
   daze, deal, decay, defile, derange, destiny, destroy, difficulty,
   dilemma, dine, dinette, dining car, dining hall, dining room,
   dining saloon, dirty, disarrange, disarrangement, disarray,
   discombobulation, discomfiture, discomposure, disconcertion,
   dishevel, dislocate, disorder, disorganization, disorganize,
   disorientation, disturbance, dividend, dog, dole, doodle, dose,
   embarrassing position, embarrassment, emergency rations, end,
   entertainment, equal share, error, etourderie, excrement, eyesore,
   farrago, fate, feed, fiasco, field rations, filth,
   fine how-do-you-do, fix, flirt, flub, fluff, flummox, flunk,
   flurry, fluster, flutter, fodder, fog, fool around, foozle, forage,
   foul, foul matter, foul up, foul-up, frenzy, fright, fuddle,
   fuddlement, fumble, furfur, gallimaufry, gangrene, gargoyle,
   gaucherie, gob, gobs, good deal, goof up, grass, gratify, graze,
   great deal, group, grouping, groupment, grove, gum up, hag, half,
   halver, harridan, hash, hassock, haze, heap, heaps, hell to pay,
   helping, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, hobble, hodgepodge,
   hot water, hotchpot, hotchpotch, how-do-you-do, hunk,
   hysteron proteron, imbroglio, infect, interest, interfere with,
   intervene, jam, jumble, jungle, kettle of fish, knot, labyrinth,
   large amount, lashings, litter, loads, lot, lots, louse up, lump,
   magpie, mash, mass, maze, meal, meals, meander, measure, meat,
   meddle with, medley, meed, melange, mesh, mess around, mess hall,
   mess up, mess with, messroom, mingle-mangle, mint, misarrange,
   miscellany, miscue, mishmash, mist, mistake, mix, mix-up,
   mixed bag, mixture, modicum, moiety, monster, monstrosity, morass,
   much, muck, muck up, mucus, muddle, muddlement, muff, mull, muss,
   muss up, nasty, no beauty, number, obscenity, odds and ends,
   off day, olio, olla podrida, omnium-gatherum, oodles, ordure, pack,
   parcel, parlous straits, part, pass, pasticcio, pastiche, pasture,
   patchwork, peck, percentage, perplex, perplexity, perturbation,
   philander, pickle, piece, pile, piles, pinch, play, plight,
   pollute, portion, pot, pother, potpourri, potter, power,
   predicament, pretty pass, pretty pickle, pretty predicament,
   proportion, provision, pucker, puddle, pull to pieces, pus,
   putrid matter, putter, quagmire, quandary, quantity, quantum,
   quicksand, quite a little, quota, raft, rafts, rake-off, ration,
   rations, ravel, refection, refectory, refreshment, regale,
   regalement, repas, repast, restaurant, rot, ruffle, ruin, rumple,
   run around, sad work, salad, salle a manger, salmagundi, satisfy,
   sauce, scads, scarecrow, scatter, scramble, scrape, screw up,
   screw-up, scurf, scuz, seduce, segment, shambles, share, shock,
   short commons, shuffle, sight, sleep around, slew, slews, slice,
   slime, slip, slough, small amount, small share, smorgasbord, smut,
   snafu, snake pit, snarl, snot, sordes, spate, spot, spread,
   squeeze, stack, stacks, stake, stew, sticky wicket, stock, stook,
   strait, straits, stumble, sully, sum, sustain, swamp, sweat,
   swivet, table, taint, tamper with, tangle, tangled skein, tarnish,
   teratism, thicket, tidy sum, tight spot, tight squeeze, tightrope,
   tinker, tizzy, topsy-turviness, topsy-turvydom, tousle, toy, treat,
   tricky spot, trifle, trip, trouble, tucker, tuft, tumble, turmoil,
   turn upside down, tussock, ugly duckling, unholy mess,
   unsettlement, untidiness, upset, wad, wads, washout, webwork,
   welter, what you will, wheels within wheels, whole slew,
   wilderness, wine and dine, wisp, witch, wreck, wreckage



Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

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