[Sca-cooks] Re: Chickens in Hochee

[Elaine Koogler]

Huette von Ahrens wrote:

>--- rbbtslyr <rbbtslyr at comporium.net> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>It is the ancestor of the military term "Mess" it means to serve I looked it up and there is a
>>good on line page I came across called the "Good Cooking Ring" that has a glossary and receipes
>>from the Middle Arges and conversions for modern Kitchens.  Mess is to Serve so it means to
>>"Serve him and cast the powder? down" 
>>
>>
>>Kirk 
>>    
>>
>
>Actually there are a ton of different meanings of the word mess in period.  Only a couple are
>the military term, which came later than this entry does.
>
>Huette
>
>Mess, n.
>
>[< Anglo-Norman mes, mees, messe, Old French mes portion of food (mid 12th cent.; Middle French,
>French mets dish, food) < post-classical Latin missus portion of food, course of a meal (4th
>cent.), spec. use of classical Latin missus, lit. ‘sending’ < the Indo-European base of mittere to
>send (see MISSION n.) + the Indo-European base of -tus, suffix forming verbal nouns. Cf. Italian
>(arch.) messo course of a meal (14th cent.).
>  All senses other than the primary sense ‘portion of food’ appear to be English developments.
>French mess military refectory (1831; cf. sense 5b) is a borrowing from English.
>  Late Middle English variation in the quantity of the root vowel between short  and long open 
>(as well as subsequent raising of the latter) is shown by such Middle English and later forms as
>mease, meisse, meesse, mase. This variation is common in borrowings from French, esp. before
>sibilants (see discussion s.v. PRESS v.1, and see further E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500-1700
>(ed. 2, 1968) II. §8).] 
>
>    I. A portion of food, and related senses.
>
>    1. a. A serving of food; a course; a meal; a prepared dish of a specified kind of food. Also
>fig. Now hist. and Eng. regional (except as merging into sense 2a).
>  Figurative uses of this sense (for example, quots. 1570, a1764) are often indistinguishable from
>the more pejorative senses 2c and 3a. 
> 
>  c1300 St. Cuthbert 68 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 361 Gistes wel gladliche 
>thene mete he εaf..him-seolf he wolde..serui heom of alle the mes. c1330 King of Tars (Auch.)
>86 
>in Englische Studien (1889) 11 35 the soudan sat at his des, Yserued of the first mes. a1400
>(a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 12559 Nother durst thai..brek thair brede, ne tast thair mes. a1425 
>in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 658/8 Hoc frustrum, mese,
>gobyt. ?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) 154 thai bring before him thaer fyfe meessez. 1570 J.
>FOXE Actes & Monuments (rev. ed.) III. 2016/2 What an euill messe of handling this Whittell had, 
>& how he was..all to beaten..manifestly may appeare. 1577 R. HOLINSHED Chron. III. 920/1 The which
>[sc. servants] togither kept also a continuall messe in the hall. 1603 T. DEKKER Wonderfull Yeare
>sig. C1v, Most blisfull Monarch..Seru'd with a messe of kingdomes. a1616 SHAKESPEARE Oth. (1622)
>IV. i. 195, I will chop her into messescuckold me! 1631 T. HEYWOOD England's Elizabeth (1641) 175
>Before the second messe came in, he fell sick at the table. 1708 C. CIBBER Lady's Last Stake I. i.
>4 What a Mess of Impertinence have I had this Morning. 1751 D. HUME Dialogue in Enq. Princ. Morals
>228 My friend Alcheic form'd once a Party for my Entertainment,..and each of us brought his Mess
>along with him. a1764 R. LLOYD Poet in Poet. Wks. (1774) II. 17 As colleges, who duly bring Their
>mess of verse to every king. 1766 J. BARTRAM Diary 23 Jan. in Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. (1942) 33
>44/2 We cooked a fine mess of palm-cabbage. 1770 N. NICHOLLS Let. 28 Nov. in T. Gray Corr. (1971)
>III. 1152 In hopes of learning a little profane history to mix with my divine, which is really a
>bad mess by itself. 1819 BYRON Don Juan II. xli, For want of water, and their solid mess Was scant
>enough. 1841 G. P. R. JAMES Corse de Leon II. iv. 89 Here comes the old woman with my mess of 
>food. 1888 R. L. STEVENSON Black Arrow 144 Three or four men sat drinking ale and eating a hasty
>mess of eggs. 1962 G. E. EVANS Ask Fellows who cut Hay (ed. 2) xxv. 234 It is possible..to point 
>to words still heard in the Norfolk and Suffolk as well as the Essex dialect:..‘skeer’ for scare;
>‘mess’ a meal of food. 1993 B. HARVEY Living & Dying in Eng. (1995) ii. 44 Food was brought to the
>table in portions called messes. A large mess contained food for four monks.
>
>    b. A quantity (of meat, fruit, etc.) sufficient to make a dish. Now U.S. regional. 
> 
>  1513 T. MORE Richard III (1883) 46 You haue very good strawberies at your gardayne in Holberne, 
>I require you let vs haue a messe of them. 1600 SHAKESPEARE 2 Hen. IV II. i. 97 Goodwife
>Keech..comming in to borow a messe of vinegar. 1621 in C. Innes Black Bk. Taymouth (1855) 313 Off
>new salt beiff i quarter iiii meiss. 1697 S. SEWALL Diary (1878) I. 455 Betty gets her Mother a
>Mess of English Beans. 1775 B. ROMANS Conc. Nat. Hist. E. & W. Florida 12 He told me; that his
>mother had an inclination to eat fish, and he was to come to get her a mess. 1792 G. WHITE Jrnl. 1
>May (1970) xxv. 402 Cut a good mess of aspargus. 1838 T. SHONE Jrnl. 20 Oct. (1992) 69 We gather'd
>a mess of new potatoes for dinner. 1861 O. W. NORTON Army Lett. (1903) 26 H. and I got enough
>[potatoes] for a mess, and some parsnips. 1883 J. C. HARRIS Nights with Uncle Remus iii. 30 Brer
>Rabbit, he hop in, he did, en got 'im a mess er greens, en hop out ag'in. 1908 M. E. FREEMAN
>Shoulders of Atlas 249, I wish you'd go out in the garden and pick a mess of green corn for
>supper. 1944 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. II. 58 Mess..enough to make a meal: ‘a mess of greens (or
>turnips)’. 1982 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1996) III. 575/1 Messserving quantity.
>
>   c. The quantity of milk given by a cow at one milking. Now U.S. regional (chiefly New England).
>
> 
>  a1533 J. FRITH Against Rastel (?1537) sig. Dii, A shrowd cowe whiche whan she hath geven a large
>messe of milke torneth it don with her hele. 1594 J. OGLE Lament. Troy sig. g4, I may saie of thee
>now, As the good-wife wont saie of hir cow That gaue a messe of milke new and soot. 1803 F. SAYERS
>Nugæ Poeticæ 16 They drink a mess of milk drawn from the cows Which ever-chewing range the 
>fruitful meads. 1842 Knickerbocker 19 557 Sally couldn't hardly bring in the pail, she gave such a
>mess. 1872 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. 1 197, I tested their milk by weighing every mess for a 
>month. 1929 Amer. Speech 5 118 A good hearted person with a high temper..[is] ‘like a cow that
>gives a good mess of milk, then kicks the pail over’. 1967 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1996) 
>III. 575/1 She gives a good mess of milk.
>
>    d. Chiefly U.S. A take or haul of fish, esp. one sufficient to provide a meal. 
> 
>  1577 Arte of Angling sig. Aviiv, ‘But how now, al this while and not a fishe?..’ ‘I could be wel
>content to haue lesse talk now, my messe of fishe beeing so litle.’ 1766 J. ROWE Diary in Lett. &
>Diary (1903) 97 After dinner we went & caught a mess of Trout. 1854 H. D. THOREAU Walden 338, I 
>got a rare mess of golden and silver and bright cupreous fishes. 1881 W. O. STODDARD Esau Hardery
>60, I caught a prime mess of eels last night. 1901 R. D. EVANS Sailor's Log vi. 59 The
>captain..sent me a mess of the finest mackerel I ever saw. 1995 Denver Post 28 May (Post Mag.) 8/3
>White's husband..remembers the many house calls he made, often for no more than a mess of catfish
>to take home to supper.
>
>    e. regional (N. Amer. and Brit.). A (usually large) quantity or number of something. 
> 
>  1809 T. BATCHELOR Orthoëpical Anal. Eng. Lang. 138 What a mes there is. 1826 R. S. COFFIN
>Jonathan's Acct. Pilgrim People in W. Morgan Amer. Icon (1988) 121 A mess of folks where Plymouth
>lays, Stood on a rock amaz'd And there they lean'd, and loll'd, and set, All moping in the dumps.
>1834 C. A. DAVIS Lett. J. Downing iv. 40 With that, he out with his wallet, and unrolled a mess on
>'em. 1866 R. HALLAM Wadsley Jack xix, Besoides a mess on it under his noase. 1890 P. H. EMERSON
>Wild Life on Tidal Water 60 Depositing a ‘mess o' eels’ he had brought as a present. 1939 L. M.
>MONTGOMERY Anne of Ingleside xxxviii. 300 Tell Susan Baker I'm much obliged for that mess of 
>turnip greens she sent me. 1956 B. HOLIDAY Lady sings Blues (1973) xix. 154 Just before I was set
>to go on for the second set a big mess of gardenias arrived backstage. 1989 Barron's 24 Apr. 48/2
>These [desktop publishing systems] are..for big-time outfits that do a mess of printing and do it
>themselves or for independent print shops.
> 
>    2. a. A portion or serving of liquid or pulpy food such as milk, broth, porridge, boiled
>vegetables, etc.
>  The expression a mess of pottage, alluding to the biblical story of Esau's sale of his 
>birthright (Genesis 25:29-34), does not occur in the Authorized Version of the Bible (1611),
>although it is found in this context as early as c1452 (see quot.). It appears in the heading of
>Chapter 25 in the Bibles of 1537 and 1539, and in the Geneva Bible of 1560. Coverdale (1535) does
>not use the phrase, either in the text or the chapter heading (his words being ‘meace of meate’,
>‘meace of ryse’), but he has it in 1 Chronicles 16:3 and Proverbs 15:7. 
> 
>  c1330 Horn Child 548 in J. Hall King Horn (1901) 185 Loke thou bring it bifor e king..As he
>sittes at his des, Yserued of the first mes. c1390 in F. J. Furnivall Minor Poems Vernon MS (1901)
>II. 535 Bettre is potage with-outen othur mes. c1452 J. CAPGRAVE Treat. Augustine Orders in J. J.
>Munro Capgrave's Lives St. Augustine & St. Gilbert (1910) 145 [Jacob] supplanted his brothir, 
>bying his fader blessing for a mese of potage. a1500 (?c1300) Bevis of Hampton (Cambr.) 83 But 
>onys yn a weke a symple messe Of sodyn barley was hart lees. 1526 W. BONDE Pylgrimage of 
>Perfection I. sig. Fii, Som for a messe of potage, with Esau careth nat to sell the euerlastyng
>inheritaunce of heuen. 1594 T. LODGE & R. GREENE Looking Glasse sig. C3v, I want my mease of milke
>when I goe to my worke. 1595 A. DUNCAN Appendix Etymol., Iusculum, a mease of brue. 1602
>SHAKESPEARE Merry W. III. i. 59, I had as leeue you should tel me of a messe of poredge. a1641 T.
>HEYWOOD & W. ROWLEY Fortune by Land & Sea III. i, Give..a word to the dayry maid for a mess of
>cream. 1645 MILTON L'Allegro in Poems 34 Hearbs, and other Country Messes. 1669 J. WORLIDGE 
>Systema Agric. (1681) 41 The Meal makes..good Pottage, and several other Messes. 1711 SWIFT Jrnl.
>to Stella 23 Dec. (1948) II. 444, I have..eaten only a mess of broth and a roll. 1790 Coll. Voy. 
>V. x. 1771 Having observed several messes of porpoise broth preparing. 1834 F. MARRYAT Peter 
>Simple II. xviii. 309 Peter, read me about Jacob, and his weathering Esau with a mess of pottage.
>1884 Fortn. Rev. Mar. 379 They are fond of farinaceous messes. 1931 A. UTTLEY Country Child xiii.
>180 They..took out beautiful copper saucepans filled with savoury messes which they put on the
>stove. 1963 M. L. KING Strength to Love xvi. 131 You cannot in good conscience sell your 
>birthright of freedom for a mess of segregated pottage. 1983 G. LORD Tooth & Claw x. 75 She 
>stirred the mess of lentils.
> 
>    b. A kind of liquid or mixed food for an animal; a quantity of this. Obs. 
> 
>  1738 POPE Epil. to Satires II. 12 If one [hog]..Has what the frugal, dirty soil affords, From 
>him the next receives it, thick or thin, As pure a Mess almost as it came in. 1810 Sporting Mag. 
>36 251 The infernal mess alluded to..being ordered for race-horses. 1841 R. BROWNING Pippa Passes
>ii, 'Tis only a page..Crumbling your hounds their messes! 1860 C. M. YONGE Countess Kate i, [He
>was] mixing a mess of warm milk for the young calves. 1894 T. D. ENGLISH Sel. Poems 240 The cows
>have their mess, and the pigs get their corn.
> 
>    c. An unappetizing, unpalatable, or disgusting dish or concoction; an ill-assorted mixture of
>any kind, a hotchpotch. 
> 
>  1828 WEBSTER Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang., Mess,..2. A medley; a mixed mass. 1836 C. P. TRAILL
>Backwoods of Canada 124 Rice, sugar, currants, pepper and mustard all jumbled into one mess. 1854
>A. E. BAKER Gloss. Northamptonshire Words, Mess, a hodge-podge, or dirty, disagreeable mixture. 
>Any culinary preparation that is unpalatable would be called ‘a nasty mess’. 1921 D. H. LAWRENCE
>Sea & Sardinia iii. 123 How I am nauseated with sentiment and nobility, the macaroni
>slithery-slobbery mess of modern adorations. 1926 P. SMITH Beadle (1929) 181 Jantje brought with
>him, secreted about his person, a horrible sticky mess of almond tommelaitjes. 1959 Times Lit.
>Suppl. 20 Mar. 156/3 He writes about subjects which, in less skilled hands, have so often and so
>embarrassingly degenerated into a mess of gush and goo. 1980 Jewish Chron. 29 Feb. 30/2 We were
>treated to a kaleidoscopic mess of fifties rip-offs, sixties platitudes and seventies mistakes.
> 
>    3. a. fig. A situation or state of affairs that is confused or presents numerous difficulties;
>a troubled or embarrassed state or condition; a predicament. 
> 
>  1812 T. CREEVEY Let. 4 June in Creevey Papers (1903) I. 164 Wellesley..was as good as turned out
>of Carlton House when he went back with Grey's refusal..and this accounts for the ‘violent
>]personal objections’ which he describes Prinney as having to Grey... It is a rare mess, by God!
>1819 KEATS Let. 17 Sept. (1958) II. 186 My name with the literary fashionables is vulgar..a
>]Tragedy would lift me out of this mess. 1844 H. STEPHENS Bk. of Farm II. 165 The London
>butcher..will..reject such cattle or sheep as are what is termed in a mess; that is, depressed,
>after excitation by being overlaid or overdriven. 1891 S. C. SCRIVENER Our Fields & Cities 173 But
>never mind, Charlie boy, keep out of messes. 1949 N. MARSH Swing, Brother, Swing ix. 211 There's
>one thing..that's sticking out of this mess like a road-sign and I can't read it. 1994 Daily Mail
>29 Sept. 9/1 He helped me..out of a terrible mess when I hadn't got a clue which way to turn.
> 
>    b. A dirty or untidy state of things or of a place; a collection of disordered things,
>producing such a state. 
> 
>  1826 ‘W. T. MONCRIEFF’ Tom & Jerry III. v. 97 Log. You never use any chalk here? Turn.... It
>makes such a mess all over the walls. 1851 H. MAYHEW London Labour II. 173/1 They make it a rule
>when they receive neither beer nor money from a house to make as great a mess as possible the next
>time they come. 1867 W. H. SMYTH Sailor's Word-bk., Mess,..the state of a ship in a sudden squall,
>when everything is let go and flying. 1917 J. MASEFIELD Old Front Line v. 67 All this mess of 
>heaps and hillocks is strung and filthied over with broken bodies and ruined gear. 1939 Archit.
>Rev. 85 213 Where hand-mixing [of plaster] is carried out the mess and waste that are inevitable
>when plaster is mixed on ‘banker-boards’ and then transferred to ‘spot-boards’ should be avoided
>where possible. 1985 M. SACHS Fat Girl ii. 11 It's a great house, but it's kind of a mess because
>Mrs Jenkins isn't much of a housekeeper.
>
>    c. to make a mess of: (a) to bungle or badly mishandle (an undertaking); (b) to put into a
>disordered, dirty, or otherwise imperfect state. 
> 
>  1834 F. MARRYAT Peter Simple III. x. 131 We then talked over the attack of the privateer, in
>which we were beaten off. ‘Ah!’ replied the aide-de-camp, ‘you made a mess of that.’ 1862 C. 
>DARWIN in Life & Lett. (1887) II. 392, I am rejoiced that I passed over the whole subject in the
>‘Origin’, for I should have made a precious mess of it. 1883 R. BROUGHTON Belinda II. III. ii. 186
>‘For Heaven's sake, do not try!’ says Belinda, in serious dissuasion, ‘or you will be sure to make
>a mess of it!’ 1958 J. CAREW Wild Coast ii. 22 Boy, if you kill all the hardbacks that come in 
>here you will make a mess of my clean floor. 1966 E. WILSON Diary 17 Nov. in L. Dabney Sixties
>(1993) 556, I had managed..to tell him [sc. W. H. Auden]..that his anthology of minor
>nineteenth-century verse had been made a mess of. 1995 N. BLINCOE Acid Casuals xxvii. 208 You made
>a right fucking mess of my car, John Quay. I don't care to think about the fucking repair bill.
>
>    d. colloq. A person who is dirty or untidy in appearance; (fig.) a person whose life or 
>affairs are disorganized, esp. due to the influence of drink or drugs used habitually; an
>ineffectual or incompetent person. 
> 
>  1891 C. WORDSWORTH Rutland Words s.v., She's a poor mess. She can't go out to sarvice: she's a
>weakly mess. 1936 M. MITCHELL Gone with Wind I. vi. 122 ‘Oh,’ thought Scarlett... ‘To have that
>mealy-mouthed little mess take up for me!’ 1938 E. BOWEN Death of Heart I. ii. 40 From what you
>say, her mother was quite a mess. 1965 M. SPARK Mandelbaum Gate iv. 104 These were lapsed Jews,
>lapsed Arabs, lapsed citizens, runaway Englishmen, dancing prostitutes, international messes. 1979
>E. HARDWICK Sleepless Nights iv. 5 She began..to speak of her son. A mess... Drugs?... Of course.
>1987 T. WOLFE Bonfire of Vanities (1988) iv. 98 His hair felt like a bird's nest. He was a mess.
>1990 J. EBERTS & T. ILOTT My Indecision is Final lvii. 615 He was mentally destroyed by December.
>He was a mess. He was exhausted.
>
>    e. colloq. (euphem.). Excrement, esp. that of an animal deposited in an inappropriate place.
>Esp. in to make a mess. 
> 
>  1903 Eng. Dial. Dict., Mess, Ordure, the quantity of dung excreted at one time. 1928 R. KIPLING
>Limits & Renewals (1932) 50 It's [sc. a dog] made a mess in the corner. 1939 A. HUXLEY After Many 
>a Summer I. x. 138 A lovely stinking little baby who still made messes in its bed. 1940 N. MITFORD
>Pigeon Pie ix. 144 Perhaps, she thought, the bird wants to go out... It made a mess on her skirt.
>1986 U. HOLDEN Tin Toys (1987) ii. 19, I wasn't allowed to look at dogs' messes on the roadside.
> 
>    f. colloq. (chiefly U.S.). Nonsense, rubbish; insolence, abuse. 
> 
>  1937 in Weevils in Wheat (1976) 4 You don' have ter take dat mess offen him. 1966 R. PRICE
>Generous Man (1967) i. 13 You set there talking mess while my dog is suffering and dying maybe.
>1998 Sported! 12 Mar. 5/1 Lezza believes completely in his own abilities and hates answering daft
>reporters' questions. He won't take any mess from anybody.
>
>    4. U.S. regional (chiefly south Midland). An entertaining, witty, or puzzling person. 
> 
>  1952 Frank C. Brown Coll. N. Carolina Folklore I. 564 Mess,..a person regarded as more witty,
>lively, entertaining, etc., than most people; a ‘show’. ‘Now ain't Mr. Jim a mess!’ 1970 C. MAJOR
>Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 81 Mess.., to say to someone, ‘You're a mess’, is to imply that he or she 
>is remarkable or puzzling. 1972 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1996) III. 575/1 Mrs. Wright had her
>feelings bruised when someone said that she was a mess... The person meant she was fun to be with,
>not sloppy.
>
>    II. A company of people eating together.
>
>    5. a. Originally: any of the small groups, normally of four people sitting together and served
>from the same dishes, into which the company at a banquet was usually divided (now only with
>reference to benchers' and law-students' dinners at the English Inns of Court). Hence: any company
>of persons, esp. members of an institution or professional body, who regularly take their meals
>together.
>  Now used chiefly in Mil. contexts (see sense 5b), in Law (where in England the term continues to
>be applied to a dinner held by the local bar for the benefit of judges on circuit), and in some
>English public schools. 
> 
>  a1450 (c1410) H. LOVELICH Hist. Holy Grail xiii. 359 Whanne Tholome his mes-men he sawh so fle.
>a1475 J. RUSSELL Bk. Nurture 1050 in F. J. Furnivall Early Eng. Meals & Manners (1931) 72
>Bisshoppes, Merques, vicount, Erle..May sytte at ij messez..ij or els iij at a messe yeff ey be
>greable. a1475 J. RUSSELL Bk. Nurture 1065 in F. J. Furnivall Early Eng. Meals & Manners (1931) 72
>Of alle our estates to a messe ye may sette foure & foure. c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods 257 So
>he her set furst at hys owne messe. 1591 in W. Greenwell Wills & Inventories Reg. Durham (1860) 
>II. 199 For the charges of xij mease, that dyned at his owne house, 2l . 8d . 1607 F. BEAUMONT
>Woman Hater I. ii. sig. B1v, Nor should there stand any..pyes, at the nether end fill'd with mosse
>and stones, partly to make a shew with, and partly to keepe the lower messe from eating. 1654 T.
>GATAKER Disc. Apol. 40 His fellow-Benchers that were in the same Messe with him. 1681 N. LUTTRELL
>Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) I. 99 An addresse..was moved by some in the 
>hall [in Grayes Inn] that day at dinner, and being (as is usuall) sent to the barr messe to be by
>them recommended to the bench. 1797 J. FARINGTON Diary 17 Nov. (1923) I. lxiii. 221 The Benchers
>have a table covered with luxuries... Four in each Class form a mess. 1821 in N. Eng. Hist. & Gen.
>Reg. (1876) 30 191 Here a number of members [of Congress], vulgarly called a ‘Mess’, put up, and
>have a separate table. 1866 R. B. MANSFIELD School Life Winchester Coll. (1870) 219 [Winchester],
>The Præfects' tables in Hall were called ‘Tub, Middle, and Junior Mess’ respectively. 1899 J. B.
>ATLAY Famous Trials 388 Dr. Kenealy's fellow-barristers on the Oxford Circuit called upon him to
>show cause before the mess on the allegation of having [etc.]... He declined to appear, and was
>duly expelled from the mess. 1972 D. ONYEAMA Nigger at Eton i. 26 One of the privileges at Eton 
>was that boys could have tea in their own rooms, with no more than six friends. Such a group was
>known as a ‘mess’.
> 
>    b. Each of the groups into which a military unit or ship's company is divided, the members of
>each group taking their meals together. Later also: the place where meals are taken by such 
>groups; a place where personnel, esp. of similar rank, regularly eat or take recreation together
>(also occas. in non-military contexts).
>  Recorded earliest in nautical contexts.
>  to lose (or settle) the number of one's mess: see NUMBER n. 25. 
> 
>  1536 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1905) VI. 450 The expensis of xxxij meis of
>marineris, gunnaris, and utheris in the New Havin. 1599 E. WRIGHT Certaine Errors Nauigation 17
>They willingly agreed, that euery mease should bee allowed at one meale but halfe so much drinke 
>as they were accustomed. 1627 J. SMITH Sea Gram. ix. 39 To messe them foure to a messe. 1745 D.
>BRADSTREET Diary 18 July (1897) 25, I Delivd 6 Days allowance of meat To every mess & One Days
>allowance of Peas; a Sheep Delivd to each Compy and pint of wine to Each man. 1772 T. SIMES Mil.
>Guide Young Officers 200 When the regiment is in barracks, a Subaltern Officer is daily to visit
>them, the messes and regimental infirmary. 1822 Gen. Regul. & Orders Army 123 Commanding Officers
>are enjoined, when practicable, to form a Serjeants' Mess, as the means of supporting their
>consequence and respectability in the Corps. 1858 P. L. SIMMONDS Dict. Trade Products, Mess..a
>number of men who take their meals together; thus in vessels of war there are ward-room and
>gun-room messes, comprising commissioned and subordinate officers. The seamen and marines' messes
>consist of a dozen or more under the superintendence of a non-commissioned or petty officer. 1886
>S. BARING-GOULD Court Royal iv, When one of H.M. vessels was put in commission, the mess was
>furnished with new linen, plate, china, glass. 1890 G. STABLES For England, Home, & Beauty xvi. 
>234 The mess to which this man belonged is little more than a hot-bed of mutiny. 1934 G. B. SHAW
>Too True to be Good II. 76 The conversation in the officers' mess doesnt suit me. 1957 A. C. 
>CLARKE Deep Range ii. 29 Lunch will be coming up in half an hour over at the Mess--that building 
>we passed on the way in. 1985 Radio Times 20 July 9/1 Doctors' messes are usually highly amusing
>places. 1992 Ships Monthly Apr. 14/3 Wardroom, junior and senior rates' messes, galley and
>auxiliary machinery are one deck below.
>
>    c. Chiefly Mil. Without article. Mealtime, or a meal, which takes place at a mess. 
> 
>  1778 Camp Guide 7 I'm summon'd to mess. 1806 R. WILSON in Life Gen. Sir R. Wilson (1862) I. ii.
>60 My chief resistance to discipline was at mess where I could not brook the duties of Boots. 1876
>W. BESANT & J. RICE Golden Butterfly I. xiii. 270 One evening after mess he told Colquhoun that
>[etc.]. 1911 E. FERBER Buttered Side Down (1941) 218 There were pictures taken on board ship,
>showing frolics..and the men at mess, and each sailor sleeping snug as a bug in his hammock. 1968
>S. L. ELLIOTT Rusty Bugles in Three Austral. Plays I. iii. 54 Anyone going over for mess?
> 
>    d. gen. A communal meal. Cf. TABLE n. 6c. Obs. 
> 
>  1840 T. ARNOLD Hist. Rome II. 551 The members of the aristocracy [of Athens] had their clubs,
>where they habitually met at a common mess or public table. 1861 G. F. BERKELEY Eng. Sportsman 
>xiv. 239 He never brought anything from my kitchen to the general mess. 1878 R. B. SMITH Carthage
>26 There were public messes, as they were called, but these were not..analogous to the Spartan
>Syssitia.
> 
>   6. gen. A company or group of four persons or things. Obs. 
> 
>  a1529 J. SKELTON Magnyfycence (c1530) sig. Ciiii, Let me se..Yf I can fynde out, So semely a
>snowte Amonge this prese, Euen a hole mese. 1598 SHAKESPEARE L.L.L. IV. iii. 205 You three fooles,
>lackt me foole, to make vp the messe. 1617 (title) Ianva Lingvarvm Qvadrilingvis, or a Messe of
>Tongves: Latine, English, French, and Spanish. Neatly serued vp together, for a wholesome repast.
>a1640 J. FLETCHER et al. Faire Maide of Inne III. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag.
>(1647) sig. Fffffffv/1, The Messe And halfe of suiters. a1661 T. FULLER Worthies (1662) I. 13, I
>meet with a mess of English Natives advanced to that Honour... Yea, I assure you, four Popes was a
>very fair proportion for England. 1828 W. CARR Dial. Craven (ed. 2) I. 320 The number of four at 
>an entertainment at an inn, where a stipulation was made for a party to dinner at a certain price
>per mess, or meos.
> 
>    7. U.S. Short for mess beef, sense 9. Obs. 
> 
>  1855 N.Y. Weekly Tribune 6 Jan. 5/4 Our market is again lower, and is dull for Mess and Prime
>Mess. 1859 N.Y. Herald 1 Jan. 8/5 Prime mess was quiet... Bacon and cut meats were quiet, and
>prices unchanged. 1884 Harper's Mag. July 299/1 The average weight of the class of animals used 
>for ‘mess’ and ‘canning’ is 950 pounds... The division [of the carcasses] is made
>into..pieces..viz. loins, ribs, mess, plates, chucks, rolls, rumps, [etc.]... ‘Extra mess’ is
>composed of chucks, plates, rumps, and flanks.
> 
>    8. Short for mess-boy, sense 9. Chiefly used in the vocative. 
> 
>  1927 J. F. LEYS After you, Magellan! iii. 31 The fireman, having missed his breakfast
>prunes..accused mess of giving them to some one else. 1928 E. BLUNDEN Undertones of War ii. 12 A
>call, ‘Mess’, produced a young soldier like Mr. Pickwick's Fat Boy in khaki, who went away with 
>his orders, and soon I was given a large enamel plate full of meat and vegetable rations. 1961 G.
>FOULSER Seaman's Voice ix. 137 Our messboy, Michael Olsen, came from Hønefoss... ‘Mess’ was a
>likeable kid. 1972 E. N. CLEAVES Sea Fever 37 Well, mess..what have we today?
>
>  
>
As a matter of fact, in some parts of the south (at least), one can 
frequently hear references to a "mess" of some kind of food...i.e., "a 
mess of greens"...which enough greens had been gathered to cook for a meal.

Kiri