hugger-mugger

American  

[huhg-er-muhg-er] / ˈhʌg ərˌmʌg ər /

noun

1. disorder or confusion; muddle.

2. secrecy; reticence.

   Why is there such hugger-mugger about the scheme?

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adjective

1. secret or clandestine.

2. disorderly or confused.

verb (used with object)

1. to keep secret or concealed; hush up.

verb (used without object)

1. to act secretly.

hugger-mugger British  

/ ˈhʌɡəˌmʌɡə /

noun

1. confusion

2. rare secrecy

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adjective

1. with secrecy

2. in confusion

verb

1. (tr) to keep secret

2. (intr) to act secretly

Etymology

Origin of hugger-mugger

First recorded in 1520–30; earlier hucker-mucker, rhyming compound based on mucker, from Middle English mokeren “to hoard”

Example Sentences

A ripe era for wartime espionage makes for a hugger-mugger entertainment in Lou Ye’s black-and-white historical drama “Saturday Fiction.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 21, 2022

Cornwall, a cottage in a dark hollow surrounded by woods in the hugger-mugger days following the birth of my first son, our horizon hidden behind fat dark rain clouds, November, mud, puddles, bitter winds.

From The Guardian • May 23, 2020

His smile when he poses with voters is a rictus, he ducks fund-raising calls, and he lacks patience for the backroom hugger-mugger required to pass legislation.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 29, 2018

Which is why in many instances the interests that Pinker dismisses as irrational hugger-mugger, everything from astrology to spiritualism, have tended to strengthen during periods of real scientific ferment.

From New York Times • Feb. 24, 2018

For much of the last century most Mayanists believed that at its height—200 to 900 a.d., roughly speaking—the Maya realm was divided into a hugger-mugger of more or less equivalent city-states.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann