helter-skelter, adv., a., n., and v. colloq.
(ˈhɛltəˈskɛltə(r))
[A jingling expression vaguely imitating the hurried clatter of feet rapidly and irregularly moved, or of many running feet.
In its form it resembles hurry-scurry; but the latter is a jingle upon the intelligible hurry, while no satisfactory explanation of helter (other than its echoic suggestiveness) has been offered. Cf. also harum-scarum.]
A. adv. In disordered haste; confusedly, tumultuously, pell-mell.
| 1593 Nashe 4 Lett. Confut. 27 Helter skelter, feare no colours, course him, trounce him. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. iii. 98 Helter-skelter haue I rode to thee, and tydings do I bring. 1598 Florio, Alla rinfusa, pelmell, helterskelter. 1668 R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 210 All running helter⁓skelter, to and again, like mad. a 1704 T. Brown Declam. Adverbs Wks. 1730 I. 40 Neither diligently enough, nor carefully..but helter skelter, slap-dash, confusedly. 1872 Baker Nile Tribut. xvii. 294 Away we all went, helter skelter, through the dry grass. |
B. attrib. or adj. Characterized by disorderly haste or headlong confusion.
| 1785 Span. Rivals 25 'Tis a helter-skelter journey we have taken. 1798 Coleridge Poems, Mad Ox xv. 89 This helter-skelter crowd. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy iii, A wild helter-skelter sort of fellow. 1894 Albion Citizen (Michigan) 290 Something can be done on the harem-scarem helter⁓skelter plan. |
C. n. a. A helter-skelter run or flight.
| 1713 C'tess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 57 Dost think..That, when he proffers Aid and Shelter, Will rudely fall to Helter-Skelter? 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg. v. Foot of Alps, Such a helter-skelter of prayers and sins! 1887 T. A. Trollope What I remember I. xiii. 266 The helter-skelter that ensued..furnished Paris with laughter for days afterwards. |
b. (Also helter-skelter lighthouse.) A tower-like structure used in fun fairs and pleasure-grounds, with an external spiral passage for sliding down on a mat.
| 1906 Westm. Gaz. 1 June 10/2 The World's Manufacturing Company, examples of whose ‘helter-skelter’ lighthouses are at Earl's Court, Blackpool, Southport, and other places. 1907 Daily Chron. 4 Sept. 2/7 All sorts of fearsome things..from a helter-skelter..to a smashing saloon and a ‘coker nut’ alley. 1927 Sunday Express 5 June 4 They will travel on the merry-go-rounds... They will go down with the mats on the helter-skelter, and up with the swings. 1945 G. Millar Maquis i. 8, I began to feel that I was sitting on a mat on top of a helter-skelter. That somebody would give me a push and I would be away with..nobody at the bottom to pick me up. 1968 D. Braithwaite Fairground Archit. 24 Vertical features like the ‘Big Wheel’, ‘Helter Skelter’ and ‘Chair-o-Planes’..are valuable advertising symbols. |
† D. v. trans. To throw away or off, in disordered haste. Obs.
| 1600 Look About You xvii. in Hazl. Dodsley VII. 436 Here are two crack'd groats To helter-skelter at some vaulting house. 1782 E. N. Blower Geo. Bateman III. 116 He has helter-skeltered off his horseman's coat, palmer's weeds, or what not. |