harum-scarum

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“
"You see, when Mildred was a harum-scarum girl --" Hildegarde uttered an exclamation, and Miss Wealthy stopped short.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. adjective Lacking a sense of responsibility; reckless.
  2. adverb With abandon; recklessly.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Perhaps alteration of hare 'em, scare 'em : hare, to frighten + scare.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Also formerly harem-scarem; a riming compound of uncertain elements, now apparently accommodation to hare, as a type of unreasoning haste and instability, and to scare, in allusion to its timidity. Cf. English dial. havey-scavey, helter-skelter (in Cumberland), also wavering, doubtful (Grose).
 

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/ˈhɛrəmˈskɛrəm/
by American Heritage

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