English

Alternative forms

• higgledypiggledy

Adjective

higgledy-piggledy ‎(comparative more higgledy-piggledy, superlative most higgledy-piggledy)

1. In utter disorder or confusion; mixed up.

   I can't find your memo since my desk is all higgledy-piggledy.

   • 1911 — H. G. Wells, The Country of the Blind

     The houses of the central village were quite unlike the casual and higgledy-piggledy agglomeration of the mountain villages he knew.

   • 1937 — Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fireside Chat, 12 October

     For many years we have all known that the executive and administrative departments of the Government in Washington are a higgledy-piggledy patchwork of duplicate responsibilities and overlapping powers.

   • 1930 — Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness

     The world is a higgledy-piggledy place, with things pleasant and unpleasant occurring in no particular sequence.

Synonyms

• (in disorder): disordered, disorderly, hugger-mugger, jumbled, topsy-turvy, raggle-taggle

Translations

Adverb

higgledy-piggledy ‎(comparative more higgledy-piggledy, superlative most higgledy-piggledy)

1. In a confused, disordered, or random way.
   • 1881 — James Greenwood, Low-Life Deeps, ch 11

     There is no kind of arrangement as regards the buildings they are erected "higgledy-piggledy;" backs to fronts, anyhow, with narrow passages between.

Synonyms

• (in a disordered way): willy-nilly

Translations

Noun

higgledy-piggledy ‎(plural higgledy-piggledies)

1. A disordered jumble; a confusion.
   • 1779, Thomas Medley, The Shandymonian, subtitle:

     A Higgledy-Piggledy of Controversies and Opinions on various intereſting Subjects

Synonyms

• See Wikisaurus:hodgepodge

References

• "higgledy-piggledy" James A. H. Murray [et al.], editor (1884–1928) A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, OCLC 15566697; and The Oxford English Dictionary; being a Corrected Re-issue with an Introduction, Supplement, and Bibliography of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (the First Supplement), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933, OCLC 2748467..

Etymology 2

Self-reference to the form of the word higgledy-piggledy.

Noun

higgledy-piggledy ‎(plural higgledy-piggledies)

1. A double-dactyl; a short poem with eight lines in dactylic meter.
   • 1980, Gyles Brandreth, The Joy of Lex, page 123:

     Higgledy-piggledies are more sophisticated than clerihews: they comprise double dactyls and rhymes and aren't always biographical.

2. Any of various word games using rhyming compounds or dactylic words or phrases.
   • 1994, Herbert Kohl, Masters' Word Game Collection, page 249:

     The games are a bit archaically presented, but they include palindromes, acrostics, higgledy-piggledies, anagrams, etc.