mell

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The fugitives rushed through the camp pell-mell, and all who were left there joined in the stampede.

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Definitions (15)

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  1. To mix; blend. [Obsolete or provincial.] All hor colouris to ken were of clene yalow, Withouten more in the mene, or mellit with other. Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), l. 5462. Th' aduerse Cloud, which first receiueth thus Apollo's raies, the same direct repells On the next Cloud, and with his gold it mells Her various colours. Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 21. Oft began … wintry storms to swell, As heaven and earth they would together mell. Thomson, Castle of Indolence, i. 43.
  2. To mix; mingle. [Obsolete or archaic.] With men of myght can I not mell. York Plays, p. 167. Alas, our society Mells not with piety. B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed.
  3. To meddle; intermeddle or interfere. Vn-callyd go thou to no connselle; That longes to the, with that thow melle. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 19. She would it eeke, and make much worse by telling, And take great joy to publish it to many, That every matter worse was for her melling. Spenser, F. Q., V. xii. 35.

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Examples (50)

  • The stories crowd one another in this book like flocks of memories that come upon us pell-mell, and in which insignificant details occupy a larger place than the most important events; our memory is, in fact, an overgrown child, and what it retains of a man is generally a feature, a word, a gesture. —  The Project Gutenberg eBook of Life Of St. Francis of Assisi, by Paul Sabatier.
  • A group of the reapers whom we had seen running from the fields were lying all pell-mell, their bodies crossing each other, at the bottom of it. —  The First Men In The Moon
  • The fugitives rushed through the camp pell-mell, and all who were left there joined in the stampede. —  Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 7
  • I saw Sir Godfrey and young Scarlett several times during the struggle; then we were all pell-mell, here, there, and everywhere, and I recollect no more But where did you see them last I cannot say--in the drawing-room, I think Yes. —  Crown and Sceptre A West Country Story
  • Officers and crew were huddled together pell-mell, and, with our usual loose discipline, every body joined in the conversation and counsel. —  Captain Canot or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver
 

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Etymologies (6)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (6)

  1. from Middle English mellen, from Old French meller, mesler, etc., mix: see meddle, of which mell is a contracted form.
  2. = French miel = Provencal mel = Spanish miel = Portuguese mel = Italian mele, miele, from Latin mel (mell-) = Greek μέλι (μελιτ-) = Gothic (Moesogothic) milith, honey; not found elsewhere in Teutonic, except as in mildew, q. v. There is an accidentally similar Hawaiian meli, honey.
  3. A variant of mall.
  4. A variant of mall, v.
  5. A variant of meal, mole.
  6. Origin obscure.
 

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