muss

[muhs]

noun

a state of disorder or untidiness.

verb (used with object)

to put into disorder; make messy; rumple (often followed by up).

Origin of muss

1820–30; perhaps blend of mess and fuss

Synonyms for muss

2. mess, disturb, tangle, bedraggle.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for mussed

turmoil, hash, mess, confusion, chaos, muddle, shambles, mix-up, mess-up, rummage, disturb, disarray, ruffle, disorganize, rumple, upset, wrinkle, clutter, tousle, jumble

Examples from the Web for mussed

Historical Examples of mussed

His hair was mussed and there were wisps of hay on his clothes.
Rosinante to the Road Again
John Dos Passos
Mussed or blood-stained specimens should not necessarily be discarded.
Taxidermy
Leon Luther Pray
Didn't like the way I mussed up son Rutherford, I kind o' gathered.
Oh, You Tex!
William Macleod Raine
This summer she's going to do the Rockies, because things are so mussed up in Europe, she says.
Gigolo
Edna Ferber
An' with one set o' lungs their mas says no, they'd get mussed for the tree if they do.
Friendship Village
Zona Gale

British Dictionary definitions for mussed

muss

verb

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

noun

a state of disorder; muddle

Word Origin for muss

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

Word Origin and History for mussed

muss

"to make untidy," 1837, probably a variant of mess in its sense of "disorder." Earlier (1830) as a noun meaning "disturbance." Related: Mussed; mussing.