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MESS (an adaptation of O. Fr. See also: meat, a dish sent to table
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The See also: term is also used of the persons who are in the habit of eating their meals together, and thus particularly of the parties into which a See also: ship's See also: company or a regiment is divided, either 'according to their See also: rank, or for convenience in catering
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Originally, a mess in this sense was a See also: group of four persons sitting atone table and helped from the same dishes
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In the Inns of See also: Court, See also: London, the See also: original number is preserved, four benchers or four students dining together
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In early times the word mess was applied to See also: food of a more or less liquid character, as soup, porridge, broth, &c
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It is probably in allusion to the sloppy nature of semi-liquid messes of food that a mess has come also to mean a See also: state of disorder, confusion and discomfort
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See also: Skeat takes the word in this sense to be a variant of " mash," originally to mix up
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