mess of pottage

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Something of value sold or given away for a small or insignificant price

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

điều gì đó có giá trị được bán hoặc trao đi với giá rẻ

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: a dish made from boiled vegetables and grains
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

He sold his shares for a mess of pottage, regretting it later

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “mess of pottage” mean?

Something of value sold or given away for a small or insignificant price Literally: a dish made from boiled vegetables and grains

Is “mess of pottage” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.