pot·pour·ri

[poh-poo-ree, poh-poo-ree]
noun
1.
a mixture of dried petals of roses or other flowers with spices, kept in a jar for their fragrance.
2.
a musical medley.
3.
a collection of miscellaneous literary extracts.
4.
any mixture, especially of unrelated objects, subjects, etc.

Origin:
1605–15; < French: literally, rotten pot, translation of Spanish olla podrida olla podrida; see pot1, putrid


4. melange, pastiche, hodgepodge, mishmash, patchwork.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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00:10
Potpourri is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
Collins
World English Dictionary
potpourri (ˌpəʊˈpʊərɪ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n , pl -ris
1.  a collection of mixed flower petals dried and preserved in a pot to scent the air
2.  a collection of unrelated or disparate items; miscellany
3.  a medley of popular tunes
4.  a stew of meat and vegetables
 
[C18: from French, literally: rotten pot, translation of Spanish olla podrida miscellany]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

potpourri
1611, "mixed meats served in a stew," from Fr. pot pourri "stew," lit. "rotten pot" (loan-translation of Sp. olla podrida), from pourri, pp. of pourrir "to rot," from V.L. *putrire, from L. putrescere "grow rotten" (see putrescent). Notion of "medley" led to meaning "mixture
of dried flowers and spices," first recorded in Eng. 1749. Fig. sense (originally in music) of "miscellaneous collection" is recorded from 1855.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

potpourri

in pottery, a decorative ceramic vessel with a perforated cover originally made to hold a moist mixture of aromatic spices, fruits, and the petals of flowers that was intended to produce a pleasant scent as the mixture mouldered. The vessel was later used for dried spices and petals. Ball-shaped ones, frequently made of metal, are known as pomanders. See also pouncet-box; vinaigrette

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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Example sentences
Click here to go to the geology potpourri animation page.
Cut through the hype, and you're looking at a potpourri of the same active ingredients.
Speaking of pruning, don't turn your last flush of roses into still another
  batch of potpourri.
The problem is that it is easy to see them as a potpourri of random thoughts.
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