hugger-mugger Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a state of confusion
    • he engaged in the hugger-mugger of international finance
  2. adjective satellite in utter disorder
    topsy-turvy; disorderly; jumbled; higgledy-piggledy.
    • a disorderly pile of clothes
  3. adjective satellite conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods
    clandestine; secret; hole-and-corner; surreptitious; underground; cloak-and-dagger; hush-hush; undercover.
    • clandestine intelligence operations
    • cloak-and-dagger activities behind enemy lines
    • hole-and-corner intrigue
    • secret missions
    • a secret agent
    • secret sales of arms
    • surreptitious mobilization of troops
    • an undercover investigation
    • underground resistance
  4. adverb in secrecy
    • they did it all hugger-mugger

WordNet

Hug"ger-mug`ger noun
Etymology
Scot. huggrie-muggrie; Prov. E. hugger to lie in ambush, mug mist, muggard sullen.
Definitions
  1. Privacy; secrecy. Commonly in the phrase in hugger-mugger, with haste and secrecy. Archaic
    Many things have been done in hugger-mugger. Fuller.
Hug"ger-mug`ger adjective
Definitions
  1. Secret; clandestine; sly.
  2. Confused; disorderly; slovenly; mean; as, hugger-mugger doings.

Webster 1913