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hugger-mugger
Sep. 22nd, 2021 07:03 amhugger-mugger (HUHG-er-muhg-er) - n., secrecy; disorder, confusion. adj., secret, clandestine; disordered, confused. adv., secretly, clandestinely; disorderly, in a muddle. v., to keep (something) secret; to act in a secretive manner.
Making this a word that spans all available parts of speech. This one goes back to the early 16th century with the original sense of secret(ive), with the confusion sense not appearing until the late 19th century and since becoming the predominant sense. As for its origin, aside from it being a clear reduplicative of something, we don't know what's being duplicated, but a common speculation is dialect term mucker, to hoard money or conceal things.
---L.
Making this a word that spans all available parts of speech. This one goes back to the early 16th century with the original sense of secret(ive), with the confusion sense not appearing until the late 19th century and since becoming the predominant sense. As for its origin, aside from it being a clear reduplicative of something, we don't know what's being duplicated, but a common speculation is dialect term mucker, to hoard money or conceal things.
---L.
