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higgledy-piggledy

adj
/ˈhɪɡəldiˌpɪɡəldi/

Etymology

A reduplicated rhyming compound. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests a possible link to pig, since the animals huddle in irregular groups, but notes that the connection is uncertain. First use appears c. 1598. The first part of the old alternative form, hoggledy-piggledy, may derive from the archaic Welsh hogldy, a hovel.

  1. borrowed from hogldy

Definitions

  1. In utter disorder or confusion

    In utter disorder or confusion; mixed up.

    • I can't find your memo since my desk is all higgledy-piggledy.
    • The houses of the central village were quite unlike the casual and higgledy-piggledy agglomeration of the mountain villages he knew.
    • For many years we have all known that the executive and administrative departments of the Government in Washington are a higgledy-piggledy patchwork of duplicate responsibilities and overlapping powers.

  2. In a confused, disordered, or random way.

    • There is no kind of arrangement as regards the buildings they are erected "higgledy-piggledy;" backs to fronts, anyhow, with narrow passages between.

  3. A disordered jumble

    A disordered jumble; a confusion.

    • A Higgledy-Piggledy of Controversies and Opinions on various intereſting Subjects
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. A double-dactyl

      A double-dactyl; a short poem with eight lines in dactylic meter.

      • Higgledy-piggledies are more sophisticated than clerihews: they comprise double dactyls and rhymes and aren't always biographical.

    2. Any of various word games using rhyming compounds or dactylic words or phrases.

      • The games are a bit archaically presented, but they include palindromes, acrostics, higgledy-piggledies, anagrams, etc.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for higgledy-piggledy. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA