mess2 ●●○ S3 verb1 [transitiveT] to make something look untidy or dirty 把…搞亂;把…弄髒He scratched his head and messed his hair even more. 他撓撓頭,把頭發弄得更亂了。
2 [intransitiveI, transitiveT] British EnglishBrE if an animal or person messes something, they use the wrong place as a toilet 便溺於〔不是廁所的地方〕;随地便溺He was so drunk that he messed the bed. 他喝得爛醉,都尿在床上了。
3 no messing spoken informal used to say that something was done very easily 輕鬆;不費吹灰之力Williams won very comfortably, no messing. 威廉斯赢得很輕鬆,毫不費力。
no messing• Anyway, Steffi has beaten Seles twice this year, very comfortably indeed - no messing.• The first failed ... but there was no messing with his second. 4. [intransitiveI]PMDF to have meals in a room where members of the army, navy etc eat together 在軍人食堂就餐
5 mess around (also mess about British English) phrasal verbphr v informal a) LAZYto spend time lazily, doing things slowly and in a way that is not planned 無所事事,漫無目的地度日He spent his vacation messing around on the farm. 他在農場裏東遊西蕩,無所事事地度過了假期。
c) PROBLEM mess somebody around to cause a lot of problems for someone, especially by changing your mind often and not being completely honest 給某人造成麻煩〔尤指常改變自己的主意或不十分坦誠〕Don’t mess me around – I want the money you promised me. 别糊弄我——把你答應給我的錢拿來。
6 mess around with somebody/something (also mess about with somebody/something British English) phrasal verbphr v informal a) SYSEX/HAVE SEX WITHto have a sexual relationship with someone that you should not have a sexual relationship with 和…亂搞,與…有不正當的性關系She’d been messing around with another man. 她一直在和别的男人亂搞。
b) INTERESTEDto spend time playing with something, repairing it etc 擺弄;修理Dave likes messing around with old cars. 戴夫喜歡擺弄舊汽車。
c) to use something and make annoying changes to it 亂動,亂弄Who’s been messing around with my camera? 誰動了我的相機?
mess around with • A monster like that is nothing to mess around with.• Now he is messing around with education, and look at the mess that that will be in.• Above all, why were these chaps messing around with helium-filled contraptions, in an age of routine rocketry?• There we were, messing around with his things, and all the time he was dead as a doornail in Paris.• Years ago Pauline blew off his fingers messing around with homemade rockets.• We knew they had to go so we messed around with it.• We had some spare time, so we started messing around with samples and sequencers and stuff. 7 mess up phrasal verbphr v informal a) mess something ↔ upSPOIL to spoil or ruin something, especially something important or something that has been carefully planned 弄糟,毀掉〔尤指重要物品或精心策劃的事情〕It took me ages to get this right – I don’t want some idiot to mess it up. 我花了好長時間才把這東西弄好——我可不想讓哪個白癡把它弄壞。
She felt she’d messed up her whole life. 她感到她把自己整個生活都弄得一團糟。
b) mess something ↔ upUNTIDY to make something dirty or untidy 弄髒;弄亂Who messed up the kitchen? 誰把廚房弄得亂七八糟的?
c) to make a mistake and do something badly 出錯;搞砸I think I messed up on the last question. 我想最後一個問題我答錯了。
mess something ↔ upIt doesn’t matter if you mess it up, you can always try again. 要是搞砸了也沒關系,你總可以再來一次。
d) mess somebody ↔ up to make someone have emotional or mental problems 使某人心情惡劣;使某人精神出問題I messed up my kids. 我把我的孩子們搞得焦頭爛額。
e) mess somebody ↔ up American EnglishAmE informal to hurt someone especially by hitting them 傷害某人;毆打某人 mess up• Don't ask Terry to do it - she'll probably just mess it up.• I've practiced all week, but I'm still afraid I'll mess up.• We secretly organized a party for her, but then Bill messed everything up by telling her about it.• Who's messed up my nice clean kitchen?• The travel agents messed up the arrangements and there was no room for us at the hotel.• Don't mess up the living room - we have company coming tonight.• Danny messed up three plays and made us lose the game. 8 mess with somebody/something phrasal verbphr v informal a) to get involved with someone or something that may cause problems or be dangerous 與〔某人〕有牽連;卷入〔有害的事〕Don’t mess with drugs. 不要沾上毒品。
b) to deceive someone or cause trouble for them 欺騙;給…制造麻煩You mess with me, and I’ll rip your head off. 你要是糊弄我,我就擰掉你的腦袋。
c) to try changing something, especially in a way that damages or spoils it 試圖改變〔尤指毀壞某事物〕