A.Word.A.Day --hurly-burly

A.Word.A.Day

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Jun 17, 2016

This week’s theme
Reduplicatives

This week’s words
hugger-mugger
argle-bargle
hoity-toity
tussie-mussie
hurly-burly

“There is no material with which human beings work which has so much potential energy as words.” ~Earnest Calkins
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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

hurly-burly

PRONUNCIATION:

(HUHR-lee BUHR-lee)

MEANING:

noun: Disorder; confusion; commotion; uproar.
adjective: Characterized by disorder, confusion, commotion, uproar, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:

A reduplication of hurling, from hurl (to toss). Earliest documented use: 1440.

USAGE:

“You won’t have a minute to spare as you find yourself caught up in the hurly-burly of a sporting and social event.”
Golden Rules of Successful Punting at the Cheltenham Festival; Beverley Guardian (Driffield, UK); Feb 29, 2016.

See more usage examples of hurly-burly in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The ultimate sense of security will be when we come to recognize that we are all part of one human race. Our primary allegiance is to the human race and not to one particular color or border. I think the sooner we renounce the sanctity of these many identities and try to identify ourselves with the human race the sooner we will get a better world and a safer world. -Mohamed ElBaradei, diplomat, Nobel laureate (b. 17 Jun 1942)

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