Dictionary

higgledy-piggledy en · ADJ · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈhɪɡəldiˌpɪɡəldi/

Etymology

A reduplicated rhyming compound. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests a possible link to pig, since the animals huddle in irregular groups, but notes that the connection is uncertain. First use appears c. 1598. The first part of the old alternative form, hoggledy-piggledy, may derive from the archaic Welsh hogldy, a hovel.

Meanings

1. (slang) In utter disorder or confusion; mixed up.
   • The world is a higgledy-piggledy place, with things pleasant and unpleasant occurring in no particular sequence. 1930, Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness:
   • Breyer was not so direct, but was plainly uncomfortable with the state’s “higgledy-piggledy” reading, which he compared unfavorably to Gallardo’s request that the court interpret the provisions “consistently with the whole spirit of the thing, which is to leave the money with the Medicaid victim.” 2022, Ronald Mann, “Justices debate state’s right to take tort recoveries from Medicaid beneficiaries”, in SCOTUSblog, 01-11:
   • The houses of the central village were quite unlike the casual and higgledy-piggledy agglomeration of the mountain villages he knew. 1911, H. G. Wells, The Country of the Blind:
   • A farmer in Hampshire was sorely distressed by the unsettling of his barn. However straightly over-night he laid his sheaves on the threshing-floor for the application of the morning's flail, when morning came, all was topsy-turvy, higgledy-piggledy, though the door remained locked, and there was no sign whatever of irregular entry. 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 305:
   • For many years we have all known that the executive and administrative departments of the Government in Washington are a higgledy-piggledy patchwork of duplicate responsibilities and overlapping powers. 1937, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fireside Chat, 12 October:
   • I can't find your memo since my desk is all higgledy-piggledy.

Forms

Deriveds

higgledy

Relateds

hodgepodge

Synonyms

jumbled (in disorder) · disorderly (in disorder) · hugger-mugger (in disorder) · topsy-turvy (in disorder) · disordered (in disorder) · raggle-taggle (in disorder)

Translations (8)

fi hujan hajan (in disorder) · fi sikin sokin (in disorder) · pl bezładny (in disorder) · fr pêle-mêle (in disorder) · hu rendezetlen (in disorder) · mi tōroherohe (in disorder) · hu rendetlen (in disorder) · fr en désordre (in disorder)

higgledy-piggledy en · ADV · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈhɪɡəldiˌpɪɡəldi/

Etymology

A reduplicated rhyming compound. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests a possible link to pig, since the animals huddle in irregular groups, but notes that the connection is uncertain. First use appears c. 1598. The first part of the old alternative form, hoggledy-piggledy, may derive from the archaic Welsh hogldy, a hovel.

Meanings

1. (slang) In a confused, disordered, or random way.
   • There is no kind of arrangement as regards the buildings they are erected "higgledy-piggledy;" backs to fronts, anyhow, with narrow passages between. 1881, James Greenwood, chapter 11, in Low-Life Deeps:

Forms

Synonyms

willy-nilly (in a disordered way)

Translations (12)

pl bezładnie (in a disordered way) · sv huller om buller (in a disordered way) · uk хаотично (in a disordered way) · it alla rinfusa (in a disordered way) · el άρτζι μπούρτζι και λουλάς (in a disordered way) · el φύρδην μίγδην (in a disordered way) · fr en désordre (in a disordered way) · pl jak popadnie (in a disordered way) · ko 뒤죽박죽 (in a disordered way) · fr pêle-mêle (in a disordered way) · it a catafascio (in a disordered way) · el άνω κάτω (in a disordered way)

higgledy-piggledy en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈhɪɡəldiˌpɪɡəldi/

Etymology

A reduplicated rhyming compound. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests a possible link to pig, since the animals huddle in irregular groups, but notes that the connection is uncertain. First use appears c. 1598. The first part of the old alternative form, hoggledy-piggledy, may derive from the archaic Welsh hogldy, a hovel.

Meanings

1. A disordered jumble; a confusion.
   • A Higgledy-Piggledy of Controversies and Opinions on various intereſting Subjects 1779, Thomas Medley, The Shandymonian, subtitle:

Forms

Synonyms

hodgepodge

higgledy-piggledy en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈhɪɡəldiˌpɪɡəldi/

Etymology

Self-reference to the form of the word higgledy-piggledy.

Meanings

1. A double-dactyl; a short poem with eight lines in dactylic meter.
   • Higgledy-piggledies are more sophisticated than clerihews: they comprise double dactyls and rhymes and aren't always biographical. 1980, Gyles Brandreth, The Joy of Lex, page 123:
2. Any of various word games using rhyming compounds or dactylic words or phrases.
   • The games are a bit archaically presented, but they include palindromes, acrostics, higgledy-piggledies, anagrams, etc. 1994, Herbert Kohl, Masters' Word Game Collection, page 249:

Forms