pell-mell: M-W's Word of the Day

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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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