[syn: harum-scarum, pell-mell]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pall-mall \Pall`-mall"\, n. [OF. palemail, It. pallamagio; palla
a ball (of German origin, akin to E. ball) + magio hammer,
fr. L. malleus. See 1st Ball, and Mall a beetle.]
A game formerly common in England, in which a wooden ball was
driven with a mallet through an elevated hoop or ring of
iron. The name was also given to the mallet used, to the
place where the game was played, and to the street, in
London, still called Pall Mall. [Written also pail-mail and
pell-mell.] --Sir K. Digby. --Evelyn.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pell-mell \Pell`-mell"\, n.
See Pall-mall.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pellmell \Pell`mell"\, adv. [F. p[^e]le-m[^e]le, prob. fr. pelle
a shovel + m[^e]ler to mix, as when different kinds of grain
are heaped up and mixed with a shovel. See Pell shovel,
Medley.]
In utter confusion; with confused violence. "Men, horses,
chariots, crowded pellmell." --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
pell-mell
adv 1: in a wild or reckless manner; "dashing harum-scarum all
over the place"; "running pell-mell up the stairs" [syn:
harum-scarum, pell-mell]
adj 1: with undue hurry and confusion; "a helter-skelter kind of
existence with never a pause"; "a pell-mell dash for the
train" [syn: helter-skelter, pell-mell]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
46 Moby Thesaurus words for "pell-mell":
bedlam, brouhaha, chaos, chaotic, chaotically, commotion, confused,
confusedly, confusion, disorder, disordered, disorderly,
disorganized, excitement, feverish, feverishly, hastily, hasty,
helter-skelter, hubbub, hurried, hurriedly, impetuous, impetuously,
impulsive, impulsively, incautious, incautiously, mad, melee,
pandemonium, panicky, precipitate, precipitately, rash, rashly,
reckless, recklessly, slap-bang, slapdash, spontaneously, tumult,
tumultuous, turmoil, wild, wildly