hugger-mugger

3 definitions found

hugger-mugger - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  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]

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

hugger-mugger - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  hugger-mugger
      adv 1: in secrecy; "they did it all hugger-mugger"
      adj 1: in utter disorder; "a disorderly pile of clothes" [syn:
             disorderly, higgledy-piggledy, hugger-mugger,
             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), hugger-mugger,
         hush-hush, secret, surreptitious, undercover,
         underground]
      n 1: a state of confusion; "he engaged in the hugger-mugger of
           international finance"