mess kit
2
3.9
- noun
- /mɛs kɪt/
:
kit de cocina
- It was surprising that it had not happened sooner, for the men of the draft paraded through the dining car with their mess kits for breakfast, lunch, and supper.
- mess kit and canteen
Men carried a bread bag, a mess kit, and a gas mask.
- Men carried a bread bag, a mess kit, and a gas mask.
Examples
-
The soldiers quickly set up their cooking area, making sure each one had their own mess kit ready for dinner.
-
When camping in the woods, it's essential to pack a reliable mess kit for cooking and eating.
-
More than anything else, he liked his mess kit.
Fiction book (1992) -
Field kits, mess kits...
Fiction book (1993) -
At our base, they come and stand in line with little pails to take the leavings from the men's mess kits, and they consider it a privilege to do so.
Fiction book (1990) -
Three hundred Jewish laborers, men and women, work at the long tables, at the presses, the latches, and the furnaces, turning out field kitchenware and mess kits.
Fiction book (1993) -
After finishing the hike, they pulled out their mess kit to prepare a hot meal near the campfire.
How Portable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'a set of dishes/utensils for meals' follows directly from 'mess' (meal, especially in military contexts) combined with 'kit' (a set of tools/supplies). This straightforward noun+noun composition is predictable for a B1 learner who knows both constituents, so the meaning is transparent despite being a somewhat specialized term.
Etymology
Mess kit comes from old army life: mess was the place where soldiers ate and kit was a small set of tools, so a mess kit was the small set of dishes and utensils a soldier carried to eat in the field. That's why today mess kit means 'a set of metal dishes and eating utensils', often used by soldiers or campers.