hot mess

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌhɑt ˈmɛs/

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hot (“warm”) + mess (“meal; soldiers who eat together”).

hot mess (countable and uncountable, plural hot messes)

1. (military) A warm meal, usually cooked in a large pot, often similar to a stew or porridge; service of such a heated meal to soldiers.
   • 1836 April 29, Frederick Marryat, “Snarleyyow, or the Dog Fiend”, in Arkansas Advocate‎, volume vii, number 4, Little Rock, AR, page 1:

     "Smallbones," said the lieutenant, after trying the hot mess before him, and finding that he was still in danger of burning his mouth, "bring me the red-herring."

   • 1852 January 1, F. L. McClintock, “Lieutenant McClintock to Mr. Fegn, Secretary of the Arctic Committee”, in Morning Post‎, number 24355, London, page 3:

     1 lb. pemican; ¼ lb. pork; ¾ lb. biscuit; ¼ lb flour or bread dust, to mix with pemican into a hot mess;

   • 1919, James Thayer Addison, The Story of the First Gas Regiment‎, page 150:

     I heard several of the enlisted men make the statement that Company C had provided hot mess for fully a thousand men of other units during the second day of the recent drive in and around Cheppy and Charpentry.

   • 1974, Langdon Sully, No Tears for the General: The Life of Alfred Sully, 1821-1879‎, page 119:

     He provided for a hot mess and he got the men up off the floor with improvised bunks.

   • 1980, William Manchester, Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War‎, page 260:

     The men there would have settled for a Coleman stove and a hot-mess line, but the greatest contribution to their spirits, plus or minus, was mail call.

hot (“uncomfortable”) (sense 1) or hot (“attractive”) (sense 2) + mess (“disarray”).

hot mess (plural hot messes)

1. (slang, idiomatic, chiefly US) A situation or object in a state of extreme disarray.
   • 1919 November 13, “The Periscope”, in Camden Post-Telegram‎, number 8134, Camden, NJ, page 5:

     The politician's in a hot mess since the women got the vote -- his wife threatened not to vote for his candidate unless he wipes the dishes.

2. (slang, idiomatic, chiefly US) A disheveled or unbalanced person, particularly one who is nevertheless — or therefore — attractive.
   • 2003, Karyn Bosnak, Save Karyn: One Shopaholic's Journey to Debt and Back‎, page 271:

     My hair had two months of roots exposed. My brows were overgrown. I was a hot mess. And I was fat.

   • 2005, Desiree Day, Crazy Love‎, page 72:

     "Girl, you're a hot mess, but we're cool," she assured her, but her next words were a warning. "But you really need to stop blurting out the first thing that comes to your mind..."

   • 2009, Cobra Starship, Hot Mess (song on the album Hot Mess):

     Well, you're a hot mess and I'm falling for you, and I'm like hot damn, let me make you my boo, […] You're a hot mess, I'm loving it, hell yes!

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