Dictionary entry

Pellmell

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Pell′mell″, adv. [F. pêle-mêle, prob. fr. pelle a shovel + mêler to mix, as when different kinds of grain are heaped up and mixed with a shovel. See Pell shovel, Medley.] In utter confusion; with confused violence. “Men, horses, chariots, crowded pellmell.” Milton.