hugger-mugger

hugger-mugger
adjective
  1. confused; disorderly
    纷乱的;混乱的
    a spirit of careless frivolity where all was hugger-mugger.
    一片混乱,无聊之至。
  2. secret; clandestine
    秘密的;私下的
noun
[mass noun]
  1. confusion; muddle
    混乱;纷乱
  2. secrecy
    秘密,隐秘
语源
  1. early 16th cent. (in sense 2 of the noun): probably related to huddle and to dialect mucker 'hoard money, conceal'. This is one of a number of similar formations from late Middle English to the 16th cent., including hucker-mucker and hudder-mudder, with the basic sense 'secrecy, concealment'
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