A portion of food given to a guest (Genesis 43:34; 2 Samuel 11:8).

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) Mass; church service.

2. (n.) 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.

3. (n.) 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.

4. (n.) A set of four; -- from the old practice of dividing companies into sets of four at dinner.

5. (n.) The milk given by a cow at one milking.

6. (n.) A disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; hence, a situation resulting from blundering or from misunderstanding; as, he made a mess of it.

7. (v. i.) To take meals with a mess; to belong to a mess; to eat (with others); as, I mess with the wardroom officers.

8. (v. t.) To supply with a mess.