muss

[ muhs ]
See synonyms for muss on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a state of disorder or untidiness.

verb (used with object)
  1. to put into disorder; make messy; rumple (often followed by up).

Origin of muss

1
1820–30; perhaps blend of mess and fuss

Other words for muss

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use muss in a sentence

  • I like a stirring man, (not one who stirs up musses,) but one who haz got sumthing tew dew and duz it.

    Josh Billings, Hiz Sayings | Henry Wheeler Shaw
  • He won't be in Exeter over Sunday, and won't want it to go to meetin', and it musses it up so to put it in a valise.

    The Pot of Gold | Mary E. Wilkins
  • He had always kept out of such musses, and he knew it was violating Federal law to be a filibuster.

  • You see, she musses up feelings with argument which generally confuse the issue.

    The Heart of Unaga | Ridgwell Cullum
  • Yes, but mine is all made up in some form or other, and it musses one's things so to pick them to pieces.

British Dictionary definitions for muss

muss

/ (mʌs) US and Canadian informal /


verb
  1. (tr often foll by up) to make untidy; rumple

noun
  1. a state of disorder; muddle

Origin of muss

1
C19: probably a blend of mess + fuss

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012