pell-mell

Definition

Hasty and uncontrolled.

Etymology

From French pêle-mêle, from Old French pesle-mesle, apparently a rhyme based on the stem of mesler (“to mix, meddle”). Compare meddle, melee.

Example Sentences

• "Nor moody Beggars, ſtaruing for a time / Of pell-mell hauocke, and confusion."
• "These present the appearance of masses of water-worn gravel, mixed in the most pell mell confusion, the boulders being often of very large size; but I observed no striae, nor any of the blue tenacious clay of the Till, which it so much resembled."
• "The whole district presents the most pell-mell throwing together imaginable."