omnium-gatherum

Definition

A collection containing a variety of miscellaneous things.

Etymology

Dog Latin, from Latin omnium (“of all”) and gather + -um, suggesting a collection of everything.

Example Sentences

• "But out of the water he dared not put his head; for the rain came down by bucketsful, and the hail hammered like shot on the stream, and churned it into foam; and soon the stream rose, and rushed down, higher and higher, and fouler and fouler, full of beetles, and sticks; and straws, and worms, and addle-eggs, and wood-lice, and leeches, and odds and ends, and omnium-gatherums, and this, that, and the other, enough to fill nine museums."
• "We live in the era of Omnium-Gatherum; all the world's a museum, and men and women are its students. To design any building in England nowadays is therefore to work under the eye, so to speak, of the Society of Antiquaries."