Adjacent Words

pell-mell definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: with undue hurry and confusion; "a helter-skelter kind of existence with never a pause"; "a pell-mell dash for the train" [syn: helter-skelter, pell-mell] adv
1: in a wild or reckless manner; "dashing harum-scarum all over the place"; "running pell-mell up the stairs" [syn: harum-scarum, pell-mell]

Merriam Webster's

adverb Etymology: Middle French pelemele Date: 1590 1. in mingled confusion or disorder <papers strewn pell-mell on the desk> 2. in confused haste <ran pell-mell for the door> • pell-mell adjective or noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adv., adj., & n. --adv. 1 headlong, recklessly (rushed pell-mell out of the room). 2 in disorder or confusion (stuffed the papers together pell-mell). --adj. confused, tumultous. --n. confusion; a mixture. Etymology: F p{ecirc}le-m{ecirc}le, OF pesle mesle, mesle pesle, etc., redupl. of mesle f. mesler mix

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pall-mall Pall`-mall", n. [OF. palemail, It. pallamagio; palla a ball (of German origin, akin to E. ball) + magio hammer, fr. L. malleus. See lst Ball, and Mall a beetle.] A game formerly common in England, in which a wooden ball was driven with a mallet through an elevated hoop or ring of iron. The name was also given to the mallet used, to the place where the game was played, and to the street, in London, still called Pall Mall. [Written also pail-mail and pell-mell.] --Sir K. Digby. Evelyn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pell-mell Pell`-mell", n. See Pall-mall.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you move pell-mell somewhere, you move there in a hurried, uncontrolled way. All three of us rushed pell-mell into the kitchen. ADV: ADV after v

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

ad. Confusedly, irregularly, disorderly, in confusion, in disorder, helter-skelter, at sixes and sevens.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

Tumultuously, helter skelter, jumbled together.

Moby Thesaurus

bedlam, brouhaha, chaos, chaotic, chaotically, commotion, confused, confusedly, confusion, disorder, disordered, disorderly, disorganized, excitement, feverish, feverishly, hastily, hasty, helter-skelter, hubbub, hurried, hurriedly, impetuous, impetuously, impulsive, impulsively, incautious, incautiously, mad, melee, pandemonium, panicky, precipitate, precipitately, rash, rashly, reckless, recklessly, slap-bang, slapdash, spontaneously, tumult, tumultuous, turmoil, wild, wildly