hugger-mugger

[ huhg-er-muhg-er ]

/ ˈhʌg ərˌmʌg ər /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hugger-mugger ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

disorder or confusion; muddle.

secrecy; reticence: Why is there such hugger-mugger about the scheme?

adjective

secret or clandestine.

disorderly or confused.

verb (used with object)

to keep secret or concealed; hush up.

verb (used without object)

to act secretly.

Nearby words

hug-me-tight, huge, hugely, hugeous, huggable, hugger-mugger, hugger-muggery, huggins, huggy, hugh, hugh capet

Origin of hugger-mugger

1520–30; earlier hucker-mucker, rhyming compound based on mucker, Middle English mokeren to hoard

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hugger-mugger

Mr Bethany tossed the hugger-mugger of pamphlets across the table.
The Return|Walter de la Mare
They can't do it,—by Act of Parliament,—except in a hugger-mugger left-handed way, that wouldn't suit you at all.
The Duke's Children|Anthony Trollope
The trouble was his “hugger-mugger” management, as Carlyle expressed it.
Leigh Hunt's Relations with Byron, Shelley and Keats|Barnette Miller
They may hugger-mugger it this way and that; but this Mr. Ralph can't be like t'other young gentleman.
Ralph the Heir|Anthony Trollope

All that set you were brought up in—why, one only had to look at them to see what a hugger-mugger way they probably lived.
Vera|Elisabeth von Arnim

British Dictionary definitions for hugger-mugger

hugger-mugger

/ (ˈhʌɡəˌmʌɡə) /

noun

confusion

rare secrecy

adjective, adverb archaic

with secrecy

in confusion

verb obsolete

(tr) to keep secret

(intr) to act secretly

Word Origin for hugger-mugger

C16: of uncertain origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012