mess jacket

American

noun

a short, tailless jacket extending to just below the waist, used for semiformal military occasions and now especially as part of the uniform of waiters, bellhops, etc.

mess jacket British

noun

a waist-length jacket tapering to a point at the back, worn by officers in the mess for formal dinners

"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

Etymology

Origin of mess jacket

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Prince Harry appeared in a Royal Marines officer's mess jacket while Meghan wore a designer dress.

From BBC

But one of the owner’s sons ran over and started yelling at him to serve the couple, prompting Wizenick to take off his mess jacket and hand it over.

From Seattle Times

The mess jackets were lined with wadded fawn silk, and the waistcoats were trimmed with three lines of narrow gold braid.

From Project Gutenberg

Put on a mess jacket and that sort of thing—easy dress.

From Project Gutenberg

Soon they came back, Mr. Osborne and Mr. Stevenson wearing the form of dress most usual in that hot climate, a white mess jacket, and white trousers, but their feet were still bare.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023