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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Disorderly confusion; muddle.
  2. n. Secrecy; concealment.
  3. adj. Disorderly; jumbled.
  4. adj. Secret; clandestine.
  5. v. To keep secret; conceal.
  6. v. To act in a secretive manner.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Privacy; secrecy.
  2. n. In confusion; with slovenliness.
  3. Clandestine; sly; underhanded.
  4. Confused; disorderly; slovenly: as, he works in a very hugger-mugger fashion.
  5. To hush; smother.
  6. To take secret counsel; proceed clandestinely.

Wiktionary

  1. n. Secrecy.
  2. n. Disorder.
  3. adj. Secret, clandestine.
  4. adj. Disorderly, chaotic, confused.
  5. adv. Secretly.
  6. adv. Confusedly, in a muddle.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. Privacy; secrecy. Commonly in the phrase in hugger-mugger, with haste and secrecy.
  2. n. Confusion; disorder.
  3. adj. Secret; clandestine; sly.
  4. adj. Confused; disorderly; slovenly; mean.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. act stealthily or secretively
  2. adj. in utter disorder
  3. adv. in secrecy
  4. n. a state of confusion
  5. adj. conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods

Etymologies

  1. Origin unknown.

Examples

  • “But the rest are all hugger-mugger, and I like them that way.”

    EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Delia Sherman and Christopher Barzak on Interfictions 2

  • “The hugger-mugger squalor endured by the planet's traveling billions.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Planes, Trains And Miseries

  • “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.”

    Archive 2008-06-15

  • “For we shall bruit his cowardice to the world if he signs us into serfdom hugger-mugger but make his face the face of the Treaty if he lets us see him do it.”

    Now You See Macavity, Now You Don't

  • “There is nothing more repetitive and ritualized than the smooth management of a household; both forms and households can get claustrophobic; heaven turns to mock-heaven and hell into a farcical hell, and suddenly the heart goes all hugger-mugger (a Shakespearean hapax — hello Alicia!).”

    H is for House : Ange Mlinko : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation

  • “But people looking for a nice little historical hugger-mugger, with arriviste royalty and Victorian train schedules aplenty, will have a pleasant evening with it, I daresay.”

    Kenneth Hite's Journal

  • “I tend to enjoy single-issue stories in between longer arcs, and after all the psychological hugger-mugger, its nice to see Aquaman take on a giant sea creature.”

    Archive 2008-07-01

  • “He is then assisted by Young Justice, who also make a guest-appearance Red Tornado explains they were all watching TV, and all this hugger-mugger interrupted regular programming, so...”

    Archive 2008-12-01

  • “While some degree of political hugger-mugger is unavoidable in a game like this, the Jersey Devil takes no position on health care policy, and the Lemures care nothing about Iraq.”

    Kenneth Hite's Journal

  • “The mystery is actually a rather good one, with enough misdirection and hugger-mugger to delight any fan of Agatha Christie, although the tone is rather more Josephine Tey or Dorothy Sayers all to the good, in my book.”

    Kenneth Hite's Journal

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Comments

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  • yarb If this word comes from Irish Gaelic then I'm a Dutchman's uncle. Apr 6, 2011

  • Daniel Kennedy Etymology: Probably from the Irish (Gaelic) expression "cogar mogar" with the same meaning Apr 5, 2011

  • yaybob In secret; in a clandestine manner. Dec 9, 2008

‘hugger-mugger’ has been looked up 1764 times, loved by 2 people, added to 29 lists, commented on 3 times, and is not a valid Scrabble word.