Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A jumble; a hodgepodge.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A hash; a medley; a hodgepodge, made up of the remnants and scraps of the larder.
- n. Hence Any inconsistent or ridiculous medley.
- n. A medley of persons.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A hash of various kinds of meats, a ragout.
- n. Any absurd medley; a hotchpotch.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a motley assortment of things
Etymologies
- French galimafrée, from Old French galimafree, sauce, ragout : probably galer, to make merry; see gallant + mafrer, to gorge oneself (from Middle Dutch moffelen, to open one's mouth wide, of imitative origin).
Examples
“There's no plot beyond exactly what you'd expect from the above gothic gallimaufry.”
“Eventually he reveals the tales' connection to the injured man, but it's an exceptionally indulgent reader who will persevere through so much gallimaufry to learn the secret.”
“Mark amusingly creates the first contemporary screenplay, a gallimaufry about the 13th century and the Great Ninja War.”
“SNAIL'S TALES: Multifarious gallimaufry of odds and ends skip to main”
“SNAIL'S TALES: Multifarious gallimaufry of odds and ends - 2”
“The previous multifarious gallimaufry of odds and ends was here.”
“Three or so miles south of Evanston is a revived Chicago neighborhood, once chiefly Swedish working class, called Andersonville, on whose main thoroughfare, Clark Street, reside a charming gallimaufry of odd shops and non-franchise restaurants.”
“A thelemic gallimaufry for this pulchritudinous ny...”
“A thelemic gallimaufry for this pulchritudinous nychthemeron”
“It published a gallimaufry of newspaper journalists (for instance, M. Stanton Evans), worldly academics (for instance, Prof. Hugh Kenner) and intellectuals such as Frank M.yer.”
The Wall Street Journal: Four Decades of Conservative Journalism
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gallimaufry’.
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Of Imitative Origin
Words formed in imitation of the sound of the things they signify.
bawl, biff, blizzard, blob, blooper, bob, boff, bomb, bonkers, boo, borborygmus, brouhaha and 148 more...
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Nincompoopery
Words that clatter and tumble
nincompoop, pettyfoggery, gaberlunzie, cattywampus, weisenheimer, katzenjammer, hecklephone, loblolly, carriwitchet, flibbertyjibbet, hornswoggle, thimblerigger and 159 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Hence
Words with definitions that have a "hence" in them.
hanger, Deet, tripe, spindlelegs, fiddle, store, pluck, snap, villain, link, comedy, particular and 376 more...
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for school!
squally, monetization, honorificabilitud..., hornswoggle, collywobbles, slangwhanger, filibuster, cliona, beknow, gallimaufry, sylvan, aide-de-camp and 31 more...
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To Define Collections
pasticcio, olio, compendium, assemblage, menagerie, miscellanea, farrago, hotchpot, omnium-gatherum, cento, gallimaufry, anthology and 2 more...
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words adored
quisling, bellicose, fungible, mumpsimus, ouroboros, aleatoric, sophistry, gorgonize, gasconade, tintinnabulation, cabalistic, ear-kissing and 1 more...
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Useful fantasy list
scion, chrysalis, adamantine, effulgent, gallimaufry, polliwog, viridian, blunderbuss, aether
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insults
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The Sausage Bucket
nycanthro Thanks for the research Chained_Bear! Oh, and thanks for the warm welcome, too. I actually rated on the "most comments" list, at a mere 152 comments less than bilby (is he gainfully employed?) By the by, I did in fact mean Acadian. And my Kentuckian co-worker had no idea what I was talking about, even when I threw in the 'nuts' reference. Mar 1, 2009
reesetee In shells, dc. Mar 1, 2009
arcadia --bilby --Thanks for bringing my attention to this conversation, as it touches on the origin of my name.
--CB --Funny you should point out the frequent "Arcadia vs. Acadia" mix up that I have been struggling to rise above for a lifetime of being called the French version of my Greek name.
--Bilby, Dhæro is well! He's a true toddler now, not talking verbally much yet but he knows 30+ ASL signs! Feb 28, 2009
dontcry In shells or shelled? Feb 28, 2009
reesetee Hey! I have a gallimaufry of nuts in a bowl on my kitchen table, even as we speak! Feb 28, 2009
chained_bear No indeed. In fact it sounds painful. Feb 27, 2009
sionnach Is there a difference between a gallimaufry and a salmagundi? Granted, a salmagundi of nuts doesn't have quite the same ring to it. Feb 27, 2009
bilby Me! Me! A gallimaufry of nuts! Feb 27, 2009
chained_bear It would seem not, sadly. OED lists its earliest usages as 1591 (in the sense of a dish) and 1551 (in the sense of a heterogeneous mixture), thus:
1591 PERCIVALL Sp. Dict., Nogada salsa, a gallimaulfry of nuts. 1607 DEKKER Westw. Hoe II. Wks. 1873 II. 294 Lattin whole-meats are nowe minc'd, and serude in for English Gallimafries.
1551-6 ROBINSON tr. More's Utopia (Arb.) 64 Suche a tragy-call comedye or gallymalfreye. 1579 E. K. Ded. to Spenser's Sheph. Cal., So now they haue made our English tongue a gallimaufray, or hodgepodge of all other speches.
Though it does also say, under "Etymology," "ad. F. galimafrée, of unknown origin," I think Acadia was probably not settled by French-speakers before 1551... (This assumes you meant to type "Acadia" and not "Arcadia," and I could be wrong about that.)
Edit: I went looking out of curiosity. Wikipedia says: "The first French settlement in Arcadia was established by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts, Governor of Acadia, under the authority of King Henry IV, on Saint Croix Island in 1604."
P.S. who, besides me, loves the phrase "a gallimaufry of nuts"? Feb 27, 2009
nycanthro Nice word. Never heard it before. I will attempt to use it nonchalantly with a Kentucky-born coworker and let you know how it turns out (cus direct askin ain't no fun no how, shoot). Merriam-Webster says it comes from the French 'galimafree' meaning a type of stew; hence the hodgepodgey notion. Could it be Arcadian in origin? Feb 27, 2009
bilby Until the bar closes? Nov 21, 2007
sitforthepillow I used this for a title of a Bluegrass music mix CD. The root "to gorge onself" describes the spirit of a genuine Bluegrass jam. The players play until the people are satisfied. Jan 3, 2007