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  1. omnium-gatherum love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A miscellaneous collection; a hodgepodge.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A miscellaneous collection of things or persons; a confused mixture or medley.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A collection containing a variety of miscellaneous things

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. Colloq. & Humorous A miscellaneous collection of things or persons; a confused mixture; a medley; a hodgepodge.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a motley assortment of things

Etymologies

  1. Latin omnium, genitive pl. of omnis, all; see op- in Indo-European roots + gatherum (mock-Latinate alteration of gather). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “I won't sink into pretension and argue that it is an art form, but I will say that it's far more than an omnium-gatherum of detritus, as its mocking gallery insists it is.”

    Adam Hanft: Irving Penn, Twitter, and the Everydayness of Life

  • “We have, in this little township, two "general shopkeepers," dealers in groceries, mops, calicoes, candles, and the usual "_omnium-gatherum_" of household requirements.”

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 378, April, 1847

  • “In fact, there was every appearance that the tent had been for a long time used as a kind of store-room, the receptacle of a bandit's omnium-gatherum, and had been hastily prepared for unexpected inmates.”

    Nick of the Woods

  • “Look at the party itself -- a veritable omnium-gatherum of political odds and ends, huddled together under the party blanket like household gods and barn-yard refuse after a hurricane.”

    The Complete Works of Brann the Iconoclast, Volume 12

  • “A livelier and more variegated omnium-gatherum was never assembled.”

    Marse Henry : an autobiography,

  • “At one of those remarkable omnium-gatherum receptions at the Tuileries, of which I have spoken in a former chapter, she heard an American lady, to whom Louis Philippe was talking of his American recollections and of various persons he had known there, say to him, “Oh, sire, they all retain the most lively recollections of your majesty's sojourn among them, and wish nothing more than that you should return among them again!””

    What I Remember

  • “And the dinginess of the article produced at last out of an omnium-gatherum sort of kitchen cupboard, made an ominous impression upon the country girl, accustomed”

    Mistress and Maid. A Household Story.

  • “The book, a collection of short stories, is an omnium-gatherum of works by various writers.”

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

  • “But of course the party is just starting for Chad and Steve, whose omnium-gatherum of online videos has captivated the Web for the past year, at least since a”

    TIME.com: Top Stories

  • “_omnium-gatherum_ country-store hinted that Perry was deceased.”

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 51, January, 1862

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synonyms (11)

Words with the same meaning

  1. hotchpotch
  2. odds and ends
  1. farrago
  2. motley collection
  1. medley
  2. hodgepodge
  1. oddments
  2. ragbag
  1. mingle-mangle
  2. mishmash
  1. melange

hypernyms (10)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. smorgasbord
  2. miscellany
  1. salmagundi
  2. assortment
  1. mixture
  2. motley
  1. miscellanea
  2. potpourri
  1. variety
  2. mixed bag

reverse dictionary (1)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. motley collection

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘omnium-gatherum’.

Comments

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  • mollusque OED2 gives the plural as "omnium gatherums", rarely "omnium gathera" (it doesn't use the hyphen in its headword). It also gives adjectival and adverbial definitions, and another nounal one: "A kind of boisterous dance known in mid-17th cent. England, and perh. identical with the cushion-dance...or trenchmore.

    See omnigatherum. Nov 12, 2007

  • sionnach I wonder what the plural form of this word is. Oct 8, 2007

  • addendumb a miscellaneous collection
    probably a “jocular imitation of law Latin�? Sep 1, 2007

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‘omnium-gatherum’ has been looked up 1062 times, loved by 3 people, added to 12 lists, commented on 3 times, and is not a valid Scrabble word.