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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Hugger-mugger \Hug"ger-mug`ger\, a.
1. Secret; clandestine; sly.
[1913 Webster]
2. Confused; disorderly; slovenly; mean; as, hugger-mugger
doings.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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"
WordNet (r) 2.0
clandestine, cloak-and-dagger, disorderly, higgledy-piggledy, hole-and-corner(a), hush-hush, jumbled, mumbo jumbo, on the quiet(p), secret, surreptitious, topsy-turvy, undercover, underground
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