helter-skelter

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   in confused, disorderly haste

   People ran helter-skelter from the platform when the alarm sounded.

2. 2
   adj

   hurried, confused, and lacking organization

   The helter-skelter evacuation left bags and papers scattered everywhere.

A rhyming or reduplicative formation recorded from the late sixteenth century. Its deeper origin is uncertain; it may be connected with an obsolete verb skelte meaning 'to hurry.' The sound pattern itself reinforces the sense of tumbling confusion.

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