mare's-nest

American  

[mairz-nest] / ˈmɛərzˌnɛst /

noun

1. something imagined to be an extraordinary discovery but proving to be a delusion or a hoax.

   The announced cure for the disease was merely another mare's-nest.

2. an extremely confused, entangled, or disordered place, situation, etc..

   We just moved in, and the place is a mare's-nest.

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mare's-nest British  

noun

1. a discovery imagined to be important but proving worthless

2. a disordered situation

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Etymology

Origin of mare's-nest

First recorded in 1610–20

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mare's-nest

The behavior Bezos describes in his blog post does, though, create a mare’s-nest of issues regarding the portions of the nonprosecution agreement in which AMI promised to cooperate fully with the government.

From Slate ● Feb. 8, 2019

And at week's end the Allis-Chalmers dispute was still a mare's-nest.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the 22 hours that followed, the world press collected a mare's-nest of wild reports from Apia.

From Time Magazine Archive

I am the more sorry because I confess I greatly regret that the mare's-nest of the Russian Memorandum of 1844 should remain unpulled to pieces.

From Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. In Two Volumes. Volume II. by John Knox Laughton

I do not come before you to-night with either a rhapsody or a mare's-nest.

From Platform Monologues by T. G. (Thomas George) Tucker