Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Disorderly confusion; muddle.
- noun Secrecy; concealment.
- adjective Disorderly; jumbled.
- adjective Secret; clandestine.
- intransitive verb To keep secret; conceal.
- intransitive verb To act in a secretive manner.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To hush; smother.
- To take secret counsel; proceed clandestinely.
- noun Privacy; secrecy.
- noun In confusion; with slovenliness.
- Clandestine; sly; underhanded.
- Confused; disorderly; slovenly: as, he works in a very hugger-mugger fashion.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Archaic Privacy; secrecy. Commonly in the phrase
in hugger-mugger , with haste and secrecy. - noun Confusion; disorder.
- adjective Secret; clandestine; sly.
- adjective Confused; disorderly; slovenly; mean.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun archaic
Secrecy . - noun
Disorder . - adjective
Secret ,clandestine . - adjective
Disorderly ,chaotic ,confused . - adverb
Secretly . - adverb
Confusedly , in a muddle.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb act stealthily or secretively
- adjective in utter disorder
- adverb in secrecy
- noun a state of confusion
- adjective conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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But the rest are all hugger-mugger, and I like them that way.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Delia Sherman and Christopher Barzak on Interfictions 2
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The hugger-mugger squalor endured by the planet's traveling billions.
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Brown may have tried to sign this wretched Treaty hugger-mugger back in December, out of sight and out of mind, but the truth of the matter is that he is in fact an EU enthusiast who has played a leading part in not just the drawing up of this Treaty but also the gerrymander that is seeing it through the process of ratification.
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Brown may have tried to sign this wretched Treaty hugger-mugger back in December, out of sight and out of mind, but the truth of the matter is that he is in fact an EU enthusiast who has played a leading part in not just the drawing up of this Treaty but also the gerrymander that is seeing it through the process of ratification.
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The hugger-mugger squalor endured by the planet's traveling billions.
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The hugger-mugger squalor endured by the planet's traveling billions.
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The hugger-mugger squalor endured by the planet's traveling billions.
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The hugger-mugger squalor endured by the planet's traveling billions.
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The hugger-mugger squalor endured by the planet's traveling billions.
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The hugger-mugger squalor endured by the planet's traveling billions.
yaybob commented on the word hugger-mugger
In secret; in a clandestine manner.
December 9, 2008
716862233 commented on the word hugger-mugger
Etymology: Probably from the Irish (Gaelic) expression "cogar mogar" with the same meaning
April 5, 2011
yarb commented on the word hugger-mugger
If this word comes from Irish Gaelic then I'm a Dutchman's uncle.
April 6, 2011
hernesheir commented on the word hugger-mugger
Same context: A once-famous fun-filled foot-long interspecies.
March 23, 2013
bilby commented on the word hugger-mugger
To sneak up on people, then jump out and hug them.
August 9, 2016
bilby commented on the word hugger-mugger
And run away.
August 9, 2016