medley

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: med=ley

CIDE DICTIONARY

medley, n. [OE. medlee, OF. meslée, medlée, mellée, F. mêlée. See Meddle, and cf. MelÉe, Mellay.].

•  A mixture; a mingled and confused mass of ingredients, usually inharmonious; a jumble; a hodgepodge; -- often used contemptuously.  [1913 Webster]

  "This medley of philosophy and war."  [1913 Webster]

  "Love is a medley of endearments, jars,
  Suspicions, reconcilements, wars."  [1913 Webster]
•  The confusion of a hand to hand battle; a brisk, hand to hand engagement; a mêlée.  Holland.  [1913 Webster]
•  A composition of passages detached from several different compositions; a potpourri.  [1913 Webster]

  " Medley is usually applied to vocal, potpourri to instrumental, compositions."  [1913 Webster]
•  A cloth of mixed colors.  Fuller.  [1913 Webster]

medley, a. 

•  Mixed; of mixed material or color.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]
•  Mingled; confused.  Dryden.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

medley, n., adj., & v.
--n. (pl. -eys)
1 a varied mixture; a miscellany.
2 a collection of musical items from one work or various sources arranged as a continuous whole.
--adj. archaic mixed; motley.
--v.tr. (-eys, -eyed) archaic make a medley of; intermix.

Idiom

medley relay a relay race between teams in which each member runs a different distance, swims a different stroke, etc.

Etymology

ME f. OF medlee var. of meslee f. Rmc (as MEDDLE)

THESAURUS

medley

agglomeration, all sorts, amalgamated, ambiguous, ambivalent, amphibious, assemblage, assortment, bicolor, bicolored, blend, blended, brew, broad spectrum, capriccio, caprice, chromatic, cold, collectanea, collection, colorful, colorific, coloring, colory, combination, combined, complex, composite, compound, compounded, conglomerate, conglomeration, cool, crazy, daedal, dappled, dichromatic, divers-colored, divertissement, eclectic, equivocal, fantasia, farrago, fifty-fifty, gallimaufry, glowing, goulash, half-and-half, harlequin, harmonious, hash, heterogeneous, hodgepodge, hotchpot, hotchpotch, humoresque, indiscriminate, intricate, ironic, jumble, jumbled, kaleidoscopic, magpie, many-colored, many-sided, mash, matching, melange, mess, mingle-mangle, mingled, miscellanea, miscellaneous, miscellany, mishmash, mix, mixed, mixed bag, mixture, monochromatic, monochrome, monochromic, motley, multicolor, multicolored, multicolorous, multifaceted, multinational, multiracial, oddments, odds and ends, olio, olla podrida, omnium gatherum, omnium-gatherum, parti-color, parti-colored, pasticcio, pastiche, patchwork, patchy, pigmentary, pluralistic, polychromatic, polychrome, polychromic, potpourri, prismal, prismatic, promiscuous, rainbow, romance, romanza, salad, salmagundi, sauce, scramble, scrambled, shot, shot through, spectral, stew, sundries, syncretic, thrown together, thunder and lightning, tinctorial, tingent, toning, trichromatic, trichromic, tricolor, tricolored, two-tone, varicolored, varied, variegated, variety, versicolor, versicolored, warm, what you will

ROGET THESAURUS

medley

Mixture

N mixture, admixture, commixture, commixtion, commixion, intermixture, alloyage, matrimony, junction, combination, miscegenation, impregnation, infusion, diffusion suffusion, transfusion, infiltration, seasoning, sprinkling, interlarding, interpolation, adulteration, sophistication, tinge, tincture, touch, dash, smack, sprinkling, spice, seasoning, infusion, soupcon, alloy, amalgam, brass, chowchow, pewter, magma, half-and-half, melange, tertium quid, miscellany, ambigu, medley, mess, hotchpot, pasticcio, patchwork, odds and ends, all sorts, jumble, salad, sauce, mash, omnium gatherum, gallimaufry, olla-podrida, olio, salmagundi, potpourri, Noah's ark, caldron texture, mingled yarn, mosaic, half-blood, half-caste, mulatto, terceron, quarteron, quinteron, quadroon, octoroon, griffo, zambo, cafuzo, Eurasian, fustee, fustie, griffe, ladino, marabou, mestee, mestizo, quintroon, sacatra zebrule, catalo, cross, hybrid, mongrel, mixed, implex, composite, half-and-half, linsey-woolsey, chowchow, hybrid, mongrel, heterogeneous, motley, miscellaneous, promiscuous, indiscriminate, miscible, among, amongst, amid, amidst, with, in the midst of, in the crowd.

Disorder

N disorder, derangement, irregularity, anomaly, anarchy, anarchism, want of method, untidiness, disunion, discord, confusion, confusedness, mishmash, mix, disarray, jumble, huddle, litter, lumber, cahotage, farrago, mess, mash, muddle, muss, hash, hodgepodge, hotch-potch, hotch-pot, imbroglio, chaos, omnium gatherum, medley, mere mixture, fortuitous concourse of atoms, disjecta membra, rudis indigestaque moles, complexity, turmoil, ferment, to-do, trouble, pudder, pother, row, rumble, disturbance, hubbub, convulsion, tumult, uproar, revolution, riot, rumpus, stour, scramble, brawl, fracas, rhubarb, fight, free-for-all, row, ruction, rumpus, embroilment, melee, spill and pelt, rough and tumble, whirlwind, bear garden, Babel, Saturnalia, donnybrook, Donnybrook Fair, confusion worse confounded, most admired disorder, concordia discors, Bedlam, all hell broke loose, bull in a china shop, all the fat in the fire, diable a' quatre, Devil to pay, pretty kettle of fish, pretty piece of work, pretty piece of business, disorderly person, disorderly persons offence, misdemeanor, slattern, slut (libertine), disorderly, orderless, out of order, out of place, out of gear, irregular, desultory, anomalous, acephalous, deranged, aimless, disorganized, straggling, unmethodical, immethodical, unsymmetric, unsystematic, untidy, slovenly, dislocated, out of sorts, promiscuous, indiscriminate, chaotic, anarchical, unarranged &c (arrange), confused, deranged, topsy-turvy, shapeless, disjointed, out of joint, troublous, riotous, complex, irregularly, by fits, by fits and snatches, by fits and starts, pellmell, higgledy-piggledy, helter-skelter, harum-scarum, in a ferment, at sixes and sevens, at cross-purposes, upside down, the cart before the horse, hysteron proteron, chaos is come again, the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds.