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omnium-gatherum

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Dog Latin, from Latin omnium (of all) and gather +‎ -um, suggesting a collection of everything.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˌɒm.nɪəmˈɡæ.ðə.ɹəm/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˌɑm.ni.əmˈɡæ.ðɚ.əm/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

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omnium-gatherum (plural omnium-gatherums or omnium-gathera)

  1. A collection containing a variety of miscellaneous things.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:hodgepodge
    • 1863, Charles Kingsley, The Water Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby:
      But out of the water he dared not put his head; for the rain came down by bucketsful, and the hail hammered like shot on the stream, and churned it into foam; and soon the stream rose, and rushed down, higher and higher, and fouler and fouler, full of beetles, and sticks; and straws, and worms, and addle-eggs, and wood-lice, and leeches, and odds and ends, and omnium-gatherums, and this, that, and the other, enough to fill nine museums.
    • 1864, Robert Kerr, The Gentleman's House, page 342:
      We live in the era of Omnium-Gatherum; all the world's a museum, and men and women are its students. To design any building in England nowadays is therefore to work under the eye, so to speak, of the Society of Antiquaries.

Translations

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