gallimaufry

noun

gal·​li·​mau·​fry ˌga-lə-ˈmȯ-frē 

plural gallimaufries

: hodgepodge

a gallimaufry of opinions

Did you know?

If the word gallimaufry doesn't make your mouth water, it may be because you don't know its history. In the 16th century, Middle-French speaking cooks made a meat stew called galimafree. It must have been a varied dish because English speakers chose its name for any mix or jumble of things. If gallimaufry isn't to your taste, season your speech with one of its synonyms: hash (which can be a muddle of chopped meat and potatoes), hotchpotch (a stew or a hodgepodge), or potpourri (another stew turned medley).

Synonyms

• agglomerate
• agglomeration
• alphabet soup
• assortment
• botch
• clutter
• collage
• crazy quilt
• farrago
• grab bag
• gumbo
• hash
• hodgepodge
• hotchpotch
• jambalaya
• jumble
• jungle
• litter
• macédoine
• medley
• mélange
• menagerie
• miscellanea
• miscellany
• mishmash
• mixed bag
• montage
• motley
• muddle
• olio
• olla podrida
• omnium-gatherum
• pastiche
• patchwork
• patchwork quilt
• potpourri
• ragbag
• ragout
• rummage
• salad
• salmagundi
• scramble
• shuffle
• smorgasbord
• stew
• tumble
• variety
• welter

Examples of gallimaufry in a Sentence

the collection is a gallimaufry of poems, essays, and short stories that have no apparent unifying theme

Recent Examples on the Web

Try, for example, the Cape Ann Museum, a showcase for work by local artists of sometimes international reputation and a generous gallimaufry of objects relating to local history, the fishing industry, granite quarrying, and the immigrant communities that have kept Gloucester vibrant. —Willard Spiegelman, WSJ, 3 Mar. 2021

As a directing-writing team, the Wachowskis added fashionable academic flavor by referencing cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard, which made their juvenile gallimaufry (including vague biblical allusions) seem highbrow. —Armond White, National Review, 30 Aug. 2019

The main text is laced through a gallimaufry of maps, photos, captions and sidebars, and rendered mostly in flat prose. —David Greenberg, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2017

Welcome to the weekend miscellany, so named because gallimaufry is too difficult to spell: Maybe Ann Coulter was too quick to give up on Berkeley. —Gary Peterson, The Mercury News, 4 May 2017

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French galimafree "stew made with various meats," earlier calimafree "kind of sauce," perhaps blend of galer "to squander in pleasures, have a good time" and Middle French dialect (Picard) mafrer "to gorge oneself," borrowed from Middle Dutch moffelen, maffelen "to work the jaws," of imitative origin — more at gallant entry 1

First Known Use

circa 1556, in the meaning defined above

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