Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century spelling of halter (a rope, cord, or similar that fastens around the neck).

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word helter.

Examples

  • He blamed Skinner for his etymology for helter-skelter from the Anglo-Saxon words for the darkness of hell: "Hell, says he, being a place of confusion."

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol IX No 3 1983

  • Now that the Republicans are out of power shouldn't this blog and its posters be flinging the F word helter skelter?

    Sound Politics: What It Means 2006

  • It was here that Charles Manson and members of his cult family were hiding out after the so - called helter-skelter murders that claimed at least seven lives and terrified the country in 1969.

    CNN Transcript May 8, 2008 2008

  • There's also plenty for the family to do and see – Victorian traditions such as helter skelter, carousel and swing boats, a steam engine, ice rink, coconut shi and hoopla stalls, street entertainment, music and shows all bring a taste of the past back to the town.

    The Bedford Christmas Victorian Market Thatsnews 2008

  • There's also plenty for the family to do and see – Victorian traditions such as helter skelter, carousel and swing boats, a steam engine, ice rink, coconut shi and hoopla stalls, street entertainment, music and shows all bring a taste of the past back to the town.

    Archive 2008-07-01 Thatsnews 2008

  • "There is an internal process that we go through, but it is kind of helter-skelter, in a good way."

    Restaurant Reviews pcaldwell@statesman 2010

  • It occurs to me that this is not unlike the process I always have to go through with a book -- I write a bunch of it kind of helter-skelter, enough to get a feel for it, and then I have to stop and take it apart and rearrange the pile of rocks into something that will bear weight -- arches and pillars -- so they can support the structure of the rest of the novel atop them.

    can't seem to loosen my grip on the past batwrangler 2008

  • "We understand that it's going to get to kind of helter skelter every now and then.

    unknown title 2009

  • But what one gets is a helter-skelter portrait of a crazy world in which justice turns into a form of showbusiness and in which even a savage shooting is something to be marketed.

    Vernon God Little - review 2011

  • Before attending Odyssey, I researched in a helter-skelter fashion.

    WRITING QUESTION: RESEARCH SOURCES PART TWO odysseyworkshop 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.