omnium-gatherum

English

Alternative forms

• omnium gatherum
• omnigatherum

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

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

collection of miscellaneous things — see hodgepodge