pell-mell

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The Word of the Day for December 29 is:

pell-mell   \pell-MELL\   adverb 
     1 : in mingled confusion or disorder 
    *2 : in confused haste 

Example sentence:
     Autograph seekers rushed pell-mell into the hotel lobby in an effort to 
meet the famous actress.

Did you know? 
     The word "pell-mell" was formed through a process called "reduplication." 
The process -- which involves the repetition of a word or part of a word, often 
including a slight change in its pronunciation -- also generated such terms as 
"bowwow," "helter-skelter," "flip-flop," and "walkie-talkie." Yet another 
product of reduplication is "shilly-shally," which started out as a single-word 
compression of the question "Shall I?" "Pell-mell" traces to the Middle French 
"pelemele," which has the same meaning as the English "pell-mell."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence. 





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