hodgepodge

Definition

A collection containing a variety of miscellaneous things.

Etymology

From Middle English hochepoche, a variation of hochepot, from Old French hochepot, from Middle Dutch hutspot (“beef or mutton cut into small pieces and mixed and boiled together in a pot”), from hotsen, hutsen (“to shake; jog; jolt”) + pot (“pot”), equivalent to hotch + pot. Compare German Low German Hüttspott (“hodgepodge”).

Example Sentences

• "His latest sculpture is a hodgepodge of kitchen clutter and scrap glued together."
• "MAn's life is but vain, for tis ſubject to pain, / and ſorrow, and ſhort as a buble; / 'tis a hodge podge of buſineſs, and mony and care, / and care, and mony, and trouble."
• "The entire section is a hodgepodge of ill-absorbed and ill-digested bits of information lifted in a haphazard fashion from the sources used with apparently no other goal in mind than to accumulate a list of items with some degree of resemblance to forms from Manding and Dravidian […]"

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