gallimaufry

[ gal-uh-maw-free ]

noun

, Chiefly Literary.

, plural gal·li·mau·fries.

1. a hodgepodge; confused medley; jumble.

   Synonyms: omnium-gatherum, miscellany, mixed bag, grab bag, goulash, muddle, mess, welter, tangle, mixture, mishmash, mélange, medley, hotchpotch, hodgepodge, hash, farrago

2. a ragout or hash.

gallimaufry

/ ˌɡælɪˈmɔːfrɪ /

noun

1. a jumble; hotchpotch

Word History and Origins

Origin of gallimaufry¹

First recorded in 1545–55; from Middle French galimafree “kind of sauce or stew,” probably a conflation of galer “to amuse oneself” and Picard dialect mafrer “to gorge oneself” (from Middle Dutch moffelen “to eat, nosh”); gallant

Word History and Origins

Origin of gallimaufry¹

C16: from French galimafrée ragout, hash, of unknown origin

Example Sentences

Another contemporary critic announces that “our English tongue was a gallimaufry or hodge-podge of all other speeches.”

From Project Gutenberg

To net a Millsborough gallimaufry of decadents, criminals, and potential rebels had become in a few hours his absorbing desire.

From Project Gutenberg

We are not at home to such gallimaufry as that; it is as much as my place is worth to denounce that there bonnet to our ladies.

From Project Gutenberg

They seemed to have been derived rather from a gallimaufry of familiar models.

From Project Gutenberg

All this jumble, this gallimaufry, I say, does not impair the spiritual worth of the play.

From Project Gutenberg