muss

present singular third person musses · participle present mussing · participle past mussed · past mussed

1. transitiveTo rumple, tousle or make (something) untidy.

   The old man affectionately mussed his grandson's hair.

plural musses

1. A mess (disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; disorder).
2. obsoleteA scramble, as when small objects are thrown down, to be taken by those who can seize them; a confused struggle.

   Gods so! a muss, a muss, a muss, a muss.

   1614 November 10 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Beniamin Iohnson [i.e., Ben Jonson], Bartholmew Fayre: A Comedie, […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Robert Allot, […], published 1631, →OCLC, (please specify the page)

   1 more example

   Authority melts from me: of late, when I cried 'Ho!' like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth, and cry 'Your will?' Have you no ears? I am Antony yet.

   c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

plural musses

1. obsoleteA term of endearment.