hugger-mugger

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: hug=ger-mug=ger

CIDE DICTIONARY

hugger-mugger, n. [Scot. huggrie-muggrie; Prov. E. hugger to lie in ambush, mug mist, muggard sullen.].

•  Privacy; secrecy. Commonly in the phrase in hugger-mugger, with haste and secrecy.  [1913 Webster]

  "Many things have been done in hugger-mugger."  [1913 Webster]
•  Confusion; disorder.  [PJC]

hugger-mugger, a. 

•  Secret; clandestine; sly.  [1913 Webster]
•  Confused; disorderly; slovenly; mean; as, hugger-mugger doings.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

hugger-mugger, adj., adv., n., & v.
--adj. & adv.
1 in secret.
2 confused; in confusion.
--n.
1 secrecy.
2 confusion.
--v.intr. proceed in a secret or muddled fashion.

Etymology

prob. rel. to ME hoder huddle, mokere conceal: cf. 15th-c. hoder moder, 16th-c. hucker mucker in the same sense