mess (redirected from messes about)

(whole) mess of someone or something

Rur. a lot of someone or something. We went out on the lake and caught a whole mess of bluegill. I cooked up a mess of chili and had all my friends over to eat it.

a hell of a mess

Inf. a terrible mess. (Use caution with hell.) This is really a hell of a mess you've gotten us into. I never dreamed I'd come back to such a hell of a mess.

See also: hell

get something into a mess

to cause something to become messy or untidy; to cause something to become unmanageable. When he made the spaghetti sauce, he got the kitchen into a real mess. You have got these accounts into a mess!

See also: get

get into a mess 

1. Lit. to get some part of one into a sloppy or messy substance. Look at your shoes! You really got into a mess. Please don't get into a mess in the park.

2. and get into a jam Fig. to get into difficulty; to get into trouble. Now you have really gotten into a mess. I got into a real mess at work.

See also: get

get out of a mess

Fig. to get free of a bad situation. (Also with this, such a, etc.) How can anyone get out of a mess like this? Please help me get out of this mess!

See also: get, out

make a mess of something

Fig. to mess something up; to ruin something. Give it a try, but don't make a mess of it. Jerry made a mess of the kitchen.

See also: make

mess someone's face up

Sl. to beat someone about the face. The champ threatened to mess the challenger's face up. The champ broke the challenger's nose and really did mess up his face.

See also: face, up

mess someone over

Sl. to treat someone badly; to beat or harm someone. Max messed Lefty over and sent him to the hospital. Max messed over Lefty.

mess someone up

Sl. to rough someone up; to beat someone up. The robbers threatened to mess Bob up if he didn't cooperate. John messed up Bill a little, but no real harm was done.

See also: up

mess something up

to make something disorderly; to create disorder in something; to throw someone's plans awry. You really messed this place up! Who messed up my bed?

See also: up

mess around and mess about 

1. to waste time; to do something ineffectually. Stop messing around and get busy. I wish you wouldn't mess about so much. You waste a lot of time that way.

2. to play [with someone] sexually. Those two have been messing around. Pete was messing around with Maria during the summer.

See also: around

mess around (with something) and mess about (with something); monkey around (with something)

1. to play with or fiddle with something idly and with no good purpose. Don't mess around with the ashtray. You'll break it if you don't stop messing about with it.

2. to experiment with something; to use and learn about something. We had been messing about with some new video techniques when we made our discovery. The people in this lab are messing around with all kinds of polymers.

See also: around

mess up

to make an error; to do something wrong; to flub up. I hope I don't mess up on the quiz. You really messed up and now you're in big trouble!

See also: up

mess with someone or something and monkey with someone or something

to bother or interfere with someone or something. Come on, don't monkey with my new camera. Don't mess with me unless you want trouble.

messed up 

1. confused. I'm sort of messed up since my divorce. Most kids are sort of messed up at this age.

2. intoxicated. Somehow I must have got messed up. What caused it, do you think? Everybody at the party was too messed up to drive home.

See also: up

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a mess of something   (American informal)

a lot of something He picked up a mess of keys and handed me one.

and no messing  (British informal)

without any difficulties She did the entire job in under an hour and no messing.

See also: and

no messing  (British informal)

something that you say which means you have done something in a very complete way 'I ordered a glass of white wine but I see Ian's brought a whole bottle.' 'Yeah, no messing.'

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a mess of something

a lot of something The fridge door is a mess of notes, schedules, and magnets. The practice field was a mess of weeds and dirt.

make a mess of something

1. to spoil something or do it very badly Our bank seems to have made a mess of our loan documents.

2. to cause a lot of damage to a place Violent storms are making a mess of the Midwest.

See also: make

mess somebody up also mess up somebody

to cause someone emotional problems I don't want to mess her up any more than she already is, I decided to leave her alone. He's so messed up. Having just one parent has been known to mess up a kid.

See also: up

mess something up also mess up something

1. to do something badly or make mistakes I really messed up my chemistry exam. We had a chance to win the game, but we messed it up.

Usage notes: sometimes used in the form mess up on something: I messed up on my driving test.

2. to break, damage, or spoil something She worries that X-rays could mess up her laptop's hard drive. I messed up my ankle playing touch football. Most of kids at the party were well behaved, but there's always a few who mess things up.

See also: up

mess around

to waste time doing something without a particular purpose fool around The kids were just messing around at the mall.

Usage notes: often used in the not mess around (to act with a serious purpose): Being a federal agent on the track of terrorists, Matt doesn't mess around.

See also: around

mess around with somebody

1. to treat someone badly He was always messing around with her, and she was right to leave him.

2. to have sex with someone other than your husband, wife, or usual sexual partner fool around with somebody She found out that her husband was messing around with her best friend.

See also: around

mess around with something

to amuse yourself by doing or saying something that is likely to cause trouble fool around with something I don't know if I'm dealing with a 14-year-old messing around with a computer or if I'm dealing with organized crime.

See also: around

mess with somebody

to annoy, worry, or cause problems for someone I'm tired of people messing with me and not telling me the truth.

Usage notes: often used with not: You don't want to mess with this guy.

Related vocabulary: fool with somebody

mess with something

1. to become involved with something dangerous He admitted that he had messed with drugs as a teen. You wouldn't want to mess with a truckload of mail that might be contaminated.

2. to change something in a way that is likely to cause harm Crime really messes with the quality of life in a community. Don't mess with funding for education programs that have a direct impact on student learning.

3. to take apart or fix something complicated esp. in order to learn more about how it works I enjoy messing with computers the way some folks get pleasure from rebuilding old cars.

Related vocabulary: fiddle with something