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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.
mare's-nest British  

noun

  1. a discovery imagined to be important but proving worthless

  2. a disordered situation

"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

Etymology

Origin of mare's-nest

First recorded in 1610–20

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.