hugger-mugger

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See also: huggermugger

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Unknown; perhaps from Anglo-Irish cuggermugger (a whispering, a low-voiced gossiping), from Irish cogair (whisper). Compare also Swedish mjugg.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈhʌɡ.əˌmʌɡ.ə/, /ˌhʌɡ.əˈmʌɡ.ə/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈhʌɡ.ɚˌmʌɡ.ɚ/

Adjective

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hugger-mugger (comparative more hugger-mugger, superlative most hugger-mugger)

  1. Secret, clandestine, sly.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:covert
  2. Disorderly, chaotic, confused.
    hugger-mugger doings
    • 1923 October, Robert Frost, “[Notes.] The Star-splitter.”, in New Hampshire [], New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 27:
      So Brad McLaughlin mingled reckless talk
      Of heavenly stars with hugger-mugger farming,
      Till having failed at hugger-mugger farming,
      He burned his house down for the fire insurance
      And spent the proceeds on a telescope []
    • 2020 September 1, Tom Lamont, “The butcher's shop that lasted 300 years (give or take)”, in The Guardian[1]:
      There were densely tenanted houses on the main road, pigsties hugger-mugger with people, fireplace ashes thrown out at night.

Derived terms

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Noun

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hugger-mugger (uncountable)

  1. (archaic) Secrecy.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], page 273, column 2:
      [] ; and we haue done but greenly
      In hugger mugger to interre him.
    • 1660, Thomas Fuller, “Not invisible”, in Mixt Contemplations in Better Times, London: [] R[oger] D[aniel] for Iohn Williams, [], →OCLC, page 74:
      Many things have been done in Hugger mugger in our Age, prophane perſons conceited that their privacy protected them from divine inſpection.
  2. Disorder.
    • 1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate, published 2006, page 990:
      As we passed through the quadrangle the church was glowing more brightly than a pearl, like a lily in strong sunlight, in spite of all the scaffolding and hugger-mugger.
    • 2013 September 10, Michiko Kakutani, “A Calamity Tailor-Made for Internet Conspiracy Theories”, in New York Times[2]:
      Portentous events and lots of huggermugger quickly proliferate, as they always in Pynchon-land: a dead body turns up near the pool in a famous Upper West Side building; []

Adverb

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hugger-mugger (comparative more hugger-mugger, superlative most hugger-mugger)

  1. Secretly.
  2. Confusedly, in a muddle.

Verb

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hugger-mugger (third-person singular simple present hugger-muggers, present participle hugger-muggering, simple past and past participle hugger-muggered)

  1. To meet or act secretly.