Meaning

noun the property of a body that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field

noun (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent

noun an ill-structured collection of similar things (objects or people)

originFrom Middle English messe, from Old English mæsse and Old French messe, both from Late Latin missa, from Latin mittō (“to send, dismiss”), compare French messe. In the ancient churches, the public services at which the catechumens were permitted to be present were called missa catechumenorum, ending with the reading of the Gospel. Then they were dismissed with the words: "Ite, missa est", the…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0