hugger-mugger
UK /ˈhʌɡ.əˌmʌɡ.ə/ · US /ˈhʌɡ.ɚˌmʌɡ.ɚ/ adjective, noun, adverb, verb
Forms hugger-muggers hugger-muggering hugger-muggered huggermugger hucker-mucker hoker-moker
- adjective Secret, clandestine, sly.
- adjective Disorderly, chaotic, confused. “hugger-mugger doings”
- noun (archaic) Secrecy.
- noun Disorder.
- adverb Secretly.
- adverb Confusedly, in a muddle.
- verb To meet or act secretly.
Synonyms
abstruse behind the scenes catlike backroom backstairs stealth clandestine cloak-and-dagger concealed confidential covert deep-laid dern disguised furtive huggermugger hush-hush inconspicuous incognito low profile disorderly higgledy-piggledy jumbled topsy-turvy hole-and-corner secret surreptitious undercover underground
Etymology
Unknown; perhaps from Anglo-Irish cuggermugger (“a whispering, a low-voiced gossiping”), from Irish cogar (“whisper”). Compare also Scots hudge-mudge, hody-moke, Swedish mjugg (“stealth, secrecy”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Privacy; secrecy. Commonly in the phrase in hugger-mugger, with haste and secrecy. [Archaic]
- adjective Secret; clandestine; sly.
- adjective Confused; disorderly; slovenly; mean; as, hugger-mugger doings.
Etymology [Scot. huggrie-muggrie; Prov. E. hugger to lie in ambush, mug mist, muggard sullen.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “hugger-mugger”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details