June 18, 2011 - pell-mell (adverb) - What does it mean? - 1 : in
confusion or disorder2 : in great haste - How do you use it? -
When it started raining, my brother and I ran pell-mell toward
the house, dropping our stuff behind us as we raced to get under
cover. - Are you a word wiz? Which of the following words do you
think was formed in the same way as "pell-mell"?"Pell-mell" and
"shilly-shally" were both formed by starting with one word,
copying it with one slight change, then saying it again.
Linguists call that process "reduplication," and it has given
English terms such as "bow-wow," "helter-skelter," "flip-flop,"
and "walkie-talkie." "Pell-mell" started with an Old French
version of the "mell" part, while "shilly-shally" (which means
"to be unable to make up one's mind") began as a single-word
compression of the question "Shall I?"