1264
,mess a'round with sth (BrE also ,mess
a'bout with sth) 1 to touch or use sth in
a careless and/or annoying way §L#; 5c#: Who’s been messing
around with my computer? 2 to spend time
playing
with sth, repairing sth,
etc. ) >
littfiS ,mess sb a'bout/a round (BrE) to treat sb in an
unfair and annoying way, especially by changing your mind a lot or not doing
what you said you would itfe ( ,mess 'up | ,mess sth—up to
spoil sth or do it badly • • • # $t; #1 IfL UMift: I’ve really
messed up this time. £n#*i7o
0 If
you cancel now you’ll
mess up all my arrangements.
,messsb-uP
1 (informal) to cause sb to have
serious emotional or mental problems ft 'If
3S
#5; {£ IStt 2 (NAmE,
informal) to physically hurt sb, especially by
hitting them ; f*£tT: He was messed up
pretty bad
by the other guy. ,
mess sth-
'up to make sth dirty or
untidy ; #14; #£L:
I don’t want you messing up my nice clean kitchen.
'mess
with sb/sth (usually used in negative sentences i§ S’ 7 aE ’rJ) to get involved with sb/sth that may be
harmful fAWSW I wouldn’t mess with
him if I were
you.
mes sage Otw /'mesid3/ noun, verb
m noun ~ (from sb) (to sb) 1 a written or spoken
piece of information, etc. that you send to sb or leave for sb when you cannot
speak to them yourself ( ft ffi ^ P ft
(ft ) fill,
Mlft i=r fit: There were no messages for me at the hotel. Jjfctf SAW o I
left a message
on your answering
machine. f^ftjfcfftftiSJ^^fllftifllf
T o 0 Jenny’s not here at
the moment. Can I
take a message? o
We’ve
had an urgent message
saying that your father’s ill.
#£|J A%MM S iftfft ft ^ 7 c 0 a televised message
from the President to the American people ftflfgf ft (ft & tkbHI AS 45
O Messages
of support have been arriving from all over the country. W#:•&£#
jg#Ao 0 an email message ftJPfitM 0 /’ve been trying to get you
all day—don’t you ever listen
to your messages?
T •& ill g ? — see also error message 2 a piece of
information sent in electronic form, for example by email or mobile
phone/cellphone ftjp ( ) fgS:
There were four messages in my inbox, (ft f7 ft M ft E9 iMfcMfto 0 He sent me a message. A
7 —
Mo —picture c> page R7 3 [usually sing.] an
important moral, social or political idea that a book, speech, etc. is trying
to communicate ( ftfl, (ft
) Wm , W
: a film with a strong
religious message ^
(ft 7 (ft o The campaign is trying
to get the
message across to young people that drugs are dangerous. hAUffStn WHI,
4 a piece of information that is sent from the brain
to a part of the body, or from a part of the body to the brain
( ) ft
J,: The message arrives in your brain in a
fraction of a second, ff
S ^ faj ff oj # II fij A J®„ 5 messagesjpl.]
(Scoff)
shopping #%[ ;
ft M: to do the messages ft
0 0 to go for the messages o
You can leave
your messages (= the things that you
have bought) here.
D33J get the 'message (informal) to understand what sb is trying to tell
you indirectly §5 to, MB, BJ6 ( £iJA$JBh;7 ) : When he started
looking at his watch, I got the message and left, {bjfi&m&f, wtM7o:on/off
' message (of a politician
ftil&ft) stating/not stating the official view of their political party
i&Bfj ( jgScfti##! ) tr
mverb ~ sb (sth) to send a text message to sb [ft ( ^ A ) ft 131 ( ftftfitll ) : [VN] Fiona just messaged
me. ME H fft
PH'j in lie A 3)5 M fit 0 o [VN N] Brian messaged me the
news. ► mes saging noun
[U]: a multimedia messaging
service MW8.& 0
picture messaging fUf^ftH
message board noun a place on a website
where a user can write or read messages ( $1 )
H W : I
posted a question on the
message board. flc/Eii
mes-sen-ger
/'mesind3a(r)/
noun a person who gives a message to sb or who delivers messages to
people as a jobitfgA; lifsM; WilM; ftf£: He sent the order by messenger,
ftfe M M W il M A ft iT #■ <> 0 a motorcycle
messenger ijf
J^f£:ft(Kjft[5j||il»TWl see shoot v.
Mes siah /ma'saia/ noun 1 the Messiah [sing.] (in
Christianity H# ffc) Jesus Christ who was sent by God into the world to save
people from evil and sin #j\^ME;
0ME; 2 the Messiah [sing.] (in Judaism $c
AKt)
a king who will be sent by God to save the Jewish people ^^ME ( ft #If kAk&W ® 4 ) 3 messiah a leader who people
believe will solve the problems of a country or the world AfHfitfftfft§![##;
tfctftft; ifcM S3d saviour: He’s seen by many as a
political messiah. itE^X'^\Wi^WUlaWi^.o
messi an ic /.mesi'aemk/ adj. (format) 1 relating to a messiah KcJS(ft2 attempting to make
big changes in society or
to a political system in an extremely determined and enthusiastic way (ft ; £E
(ft : The reforms were carried out with an almost messianic zeal. j&ft(fto
Messrs
(BrE)
(NAmE Messrs.) /'mesaz; NAmE -sarz/ abbr. (used
as the plural of ‘Mr’ before a list of names and before names of business
companies) (Mr (ft
Messrs Smith, Brown and Jones ft^&3fnJE$T7feft
0 Messrs T Brown and Co* T.
'mess tin noun a metal tin used by
soldiers for cooking, eating and drinking
messy /'mesi/
adj. (mess ier, messi-est) 1 dirty and/or untidy ^Sfn(ft 033 chaotic: The
house was always messy. )£ M W $1 o
2 making sb/sth dirty and/or untidy ; f£7il
: It was a messy job. (ftX#c 3 (of a
situation Mftift) unpleasant,
confused or difficult to deal with il^Ltft; J&leX The divorce was
painful and messy.
mes tiza /me'stiiza/ noun a female mestizo miifiUL
mes tizo /me'stirzau; NAmE -zoo/ noun (pi. -os) a Latin American who
has both Spanish and Native American ancestors a (
^feTH^IA )
Met
/met/
abbr. (informal) 1 meteorological
^^(ft; the Met Office weather forecast service f 2 the Met the Metropolitan Opera
House
(in
fcWPA
met pt, pp of meet
meta- /'meta/
combining form (in nouns, adjectives and verbs connected with a
change of position or state
( :
metamorphosis 0 metabolism
®rl^ftilf 2 higher; beyond M ft; Jft' ft ; h metaphysics Jfr M ft ^ 0
metalanguage tuto
g
me tab ol ism /ma'taebalizam/ noun [U, sing.] (biology ft) the chemical
processes in living things that change food, etc. into energy and materials for
growth iff:
The body’s metabolism is slowed down by extreme cold. ►meta-bol-ic
/.meta'bnlik;
NAmE -'bail-/ adj. [usually before noun]: a metabolic
process/disorder fr ft tf M H / o a
highAow metabolic rate ft / fftff^ftiffilA
metabol
ize (BrE also -ise) /ma’taebalaiz/ verb
[VN] (biology ft) to turn food, minerals, etc. in the body into new
cells, energy and waste products by means of chemical processes frBtvftitf (
###/.
metacarpal /.meta'kaipl;
NAmE -'kairpl/ noun (anatomy ft?) any of the five bones in the
hand between the wrist and the fingers ¥# ( A$J$&#-^Jb#£|h]
W