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Word of the Day for Friday May 16, 2003

hugger-mugger \HUH-guhr-muh-guhr\, noun:
1. A disorderly jumble; muddle; confusion.
2. Secrecy; concealment.

adjective:
1. Confused; muddled; disorderly.
2. Secret.

adverb:
1. In a muddle or confusion.
2. Secretly.

transitive verb:
To keep secret.

intransitive verb:
To act in a secretive manner.

While Ventura is speaking out -- his wisdom seems to be a
hugger-mugger of twisted cliches from his reading of
airport trash picked up as he traveled from bout to bout --
others who do possess minds too often are failing to speak
theirs, and usually they do so only as a consequence of
perceived electoral pragmatism.
--Jamie Dettmer, "Campaigning and the Media Circus,"
[1]Insight on the News, November 1, 1999

From here on in, it's all about security clearances,
undercover surveillance, computers, microphones hidden in
coat buttons and so much technical hugger-mugger you'd have
to be a hacker to decipher it.
--Rex Reed, "On The Town With Rex Reed," [2]New York
Observer, February 3, 2003

I followed him to that hugger-mugger cabin he had hidden in
the oaks on the other side of the swale and nipped behind
the trees.
--Roy Parvin, [3]The Loneliest Road in America

While we waited in the cab for a final passenger to appear
(Nesher disapproves of empty seats), my new American
friend, unhappy with the hugger-mugger tossing of his
luggage, got out of the taxi and climbed into its rear to
arrange things better.
--Edith Pearlman, "Neshering," [4]The Atlantic, December
1998

The charts fit into this upper compartment that they may be
ready at hand on any pressing engagement and, below, safe
from prying eyes, you may stow your books. Whether they be
maritime, legal, religious, or consecrated to the delight
of the senses, 'tis all one, they lie there together
hugger-mugger.
--Ferdinand Mount, [5]Jem (and Sam)
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The origin of hugger-mugger is unknown; it is perhaps from
Anglo-Irish cuggermugger, "a whispering, a low-voiced
gossiping," from Irish cogair!, "whisper!"

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