Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to interfere, to disturb [backform. f. mess with v.].

1873		Sl. Dict. (5th edn) 225: Mess, to interfere unduly. Costermongers refer to police supervision as ‘messing’.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 49: Mess, to get into trouble by wrongful interference.
1972		D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White America 72: mess v. to bother; harass; interfere with either physically or verbally.
1980		J.L. Gwaltney Drylongso 21: I’m bad, don’t mess with me.

2. (US) to fight.

1935		(ref. to a.1910) D. Maurer ‘Lingo of Good-People’ AS X:1 18/1: To Mess. To fight.
1973		(con. mid-1960s) J. Patrick Glasgow Gang Observed 117: If squaring up to a rival team the boys shouted almost hysterically: ‘Dae youse want tae mess?’.
2001		I. Welsh Glue 75: Pagger any radge that messes, wee man.

3. to have sexual intercourse, esp. adulterously; thus messing n.

1932		Blind Willie McTell ‘Searching the Desert for the Blues’ 🎵 Act like an angel in the daytime / Mess by the ditch at night.
1987		(con. 1930s) L. Redmond Emerald Square 132: The line was drawn at ‘messin’ with little kids. Incest was so dreadful a crime, that not one of them had ever come close to a case of it before.
1999		Observer Mag. 13 June 34: ‘Messing’, in East Texas, is the term for fucking.

4. (US) to defecate.

1938		J. Weidman I Can Get It For You Wholesale 42: They want to mess in the street, like horses.
1964		E. Shrake But Not For Love 354: ‘If that big cow messes on himself once more, I’ll throw up’.
1974		(con. late 1940s) E. Thompson Tattoo (1977) 686: ‘I just messed all over myself,’ he confessed.
1980		A. Fugard Tsotsi 139: Boston stank as bad as a backyard. He had also messed in his trousers.
1998		B. Robinson Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman 131: Dog came up here this morning. Messed itself. [...] Under the bed.

5. (US) to gossip maliciously.

1980

Jackson & Christian Death Row 113: Men is worse than old ladies. I used to think ladies gossip. The men, they start messing, messing, messing. They become unreal [...] that’s all they got to do is down each other talking, start messing, everything.

6. to tease, to joke.

1988		R. Doyle Commitments 12: Ah, cop on, said Jimmy. – I was only messin’.
1997		C. McPherson The Weir 18: Don’t be messing. Come on.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 131: Christ am only fuckin mesin, Jesus, keep yer fuckin wig on.
2007		Skins ser.1 ep.3 [TV script] They’re just messing with you, sweetness .

7. to masturbate.

1996

R. Doyle Woman Who Walked Into Doors 80: I used to mess with myself thinking about him [...] I could come in thirty seconds, no problem, thinking about him.

8. see mess about v.