gallimaufry

[ gal-uh-maw-free ]
/ ˌgæl əˈmɔ fri /

noun, plural gal·li·mau·fries. Chiefly Literary.

a hodgepodge; jumble; confused medley.
a ragout or hash.

Origin of gallimaufry

1545–55; < Middle French galimafree kind of sauce or stew, probably a conflation of galer to amuse oneself (see gallant) and Picard dialect mafrer to gorge oneself (< Middle Dutch moffelen to eat, nosh)

Example sentences from the Web for gallimaufry

  • All this jumble, this gallimaufry, I say, does not impair the spiritual worth of the play.

  • They seemed to have been derived rather from a gallimaufry of familiar models.

    Zuleika Dobson |Max Beerbohm
  • Another contemporary critic announces that “our English tongue was a gallimaufry or hodge-podge of all other speeches.”

    Amenities of Literature |Isaac Disraeli
  • To net a Millsborough gallimaufry of decadents, criminals, and potential rebels had become in a few hours his absorbing desire.

    Ambrotox and Limping Dick |Oliver Fleming

British Dictionary definitions for gallimaufry

gallimaufry
/ (ˌɡælɪˈmɔːfrɪ) /

noun plural -fries

a jumble; hotchpotch

Word Origin for gallimaufry

C16: from French galimafrée ragout, hash, of unknown origin