Hugger-mugger

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Hugger-mugger \Hug"ger-mug`ger\, n. [Scot. huggrie-muggrie;
     Prov. E. hugger to lie in ambush, mug mist, muggard sullen.]
     1. Privacy; secrecy. Commonly in the phrase in hugger-mugger,
        with haste and secrecy. [Archaic]
        [1913 Webster]
  


              Many things have been done in hugger-mugger.
                                                    --Fuller.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Confusion; disorder.
        [PJC]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Hugger-mugger \Hug"ger-mug`ger\, a.
     1. Secret; clandestine; sly.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Confused; disorderly; slovenly; mean; as, hugger-mugger
        doings.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  hugger-mugger
       adj 1: in utter disorder; "a disorderly pile of clothes" [syn: {disorderly},
               {higgledy-piggledy}, {jumbled}, {topsy-turvy}]
       2: conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods;
          "clandestine intelligence operations"; "cloak-and-dagger
          activities behind enemy lines"; "hole-and-corner
          intrigue"; "secret missions"; "a secret agent"; "secret
          sales of arms"; "surreptitious mobilization of troops";
          "an undercover investigation"; "underground resistance"
          [syn: {clandestine}, {cloak-and-dagger}, {hole-and-corner(a)},
           {hush-hush}, {on the quiet(p)}, {secret}, {surreptitious},
           {undercover}, {underground}]
       n : a state of confusion; ritual accompanied by complicated and
           purposeless activity that obscures and confuses; "he
           engaged in the hugger-mugger of international finance"
           [syn: {mumbo jumbo}]
       adv : in secrecy; "they did it all hugger-mugger"