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Definition of pell-mell - 5 dictionary results
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pell-mell

  [pel-mel]
Use pell-mell in a Sentence
–adverb
1. in disorderly, headlong haste; in a recklessly hurried manner.
2. in a confused or jumbled mass, crowd, manner, etc.: The crowd rushed pell-mell into the store when the doors opened.
–adjective
3. indiscriminate; disorderly; confused: a pell-mell dash after someone.
4. overhasty or precipitate; rash: pell-mell spending.
–noun
5. a confused or jumbled mass, crowd, etc.
6. disorderly, headlong haste.
Also, pellmell.

Origin:
1570–80; < MF pelemele, OF pesle mesle, rhyming compound based on mesler to mix. See meddle
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To pell-mell
pell-mell also pell·mell   (pěl'měl')   
adv.  
  1. In a jumbled, confused manner; helter-skelter.
  2. In frantic disorderly haste; headlong: "I went to work pell-mell, blotted several sheets of paper with choice floating thoughts" (Washington Irving).

[French pêle-mêle, from Old French pesle mesle, probably reduplication of mesle, imperative of mesler, to mix; see meddle.]
pell'-mell' adj. & n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Pell-mell

Pell`-mell"\, n. See Pall-mall.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : pell-mell
Spanish: atropelladamente,
German: durcheinander,
Japanese: わっと
More Translations »

pell-mell

In a confused, disorderly manner: “After the assembly, the students ran pell-mell from the auditorium.”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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pell-mell  (adv.)
"confusedly," 1579, from M.Fr. pêle-mêle, from O.Fr. pesle mesle (12c.), apparently a jingling rhyme on the second element, which is from the stem of the verb mesler "to mix, mingle."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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