skimble-skamble

English

WOTD – 22 January 2019

Etymology

Reduplication of scamble (“to move about pushing and jostling, struggle for place or possession, scramble; to mangle”). The term was popularized by William Shakespeare’s use of it in the play Henry IV, Part 1 (c. 1597): see the quotation.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈskɪmb(ə)lˌskæmb(ə)l/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: skim‧ble-skam‧ble

Adjective

skimble-skamble (not comparable)

1. Confused, chaotic, disorderly, senseless.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:absurd

   • c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     [S]ometime he angers me / With telling me of the Mouldwarp and the Ant, / Of the dreamer Merlin and his prophecies, / And of a Dragon and a finles fiſh, / A clipwingd Griffin and a molten rauen, / A couching Leon and a ramping Cat, / And ſuch a deale of skimble ſcamble ſtuffe / As puts me from my faith.

   • 1886, Amelia E. Barr, “The Beginning of Strife”, in The Bow of Orange Ribbon: A Romance of New York, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, →OCLC, page 62:

     [Y]ou should hae made a' things plain and positive to Katherine. Such skimble-skamble, yea and nay kind o' ways willna do wi' women.

   • 1984 September 24, David Denby, “Movies: Mozartmania [review of Amadeus]”, in New York, volume 17, number 38, New York, N.Y.: News Group Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 93, column 1:

     Some of this exuberant, large-scale movie is charming and inventive, and some of it is pitifully trashy, in the style of Ken Russell's skimble-skamble burlesques of [Pyotr Ilyich] Tchaikovsky, [Gustav] Mahler, and [Franz] Liszt.

   • 2008, John Mogan, “Born, Born Again, and Reborn”, in The Book of Sacha and Sacha’s Animals, Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 191:

     He spoke some skimble-skamble stuff and I asked a couple of questions, and then I had to laugh.

Alternative forms

• skimble-scamble

Translations

confused, chaotic, disorderly — see chaotic,‎ disorderly

Noun

skimble-skamble (uncountable)

1. Gibberish, mumbo-jumbo, nonsense.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nonsense

   • 1818 June 1, Lord Byron, Thomas Moore, “Letter CCCXVII. To Mr Moore.”, in Letters and Journals of Lord Byron: […], volume II, Paris: Published by A[nthony] and W[illiam] Galignani, […], published 1830, →OCLC, page 287, column 1:

     Did you read his skimble-skamble about * * being at the head of his own profession, in the eyes of those who followed it?

   • 1997 September 4, Sopon Onkgara, “One man, one draft, lots of gibberish”, in The Nation, Bangkok: Nation Pub. Group, →OCLC, page A4, column 3:

     None of the questions directed at Chavalit [Yongchaiyudh] were serious enough to make him think before he delivered his beat-around-the-bush response. He put the nation in deep shame – again – with his unenlightened skimble-skamble.

Translations

gibberish, mumbo-jumbo, nonsense — see nonsense

Further reading

• Michael Quinion (January 12, 2008) “Skimble-skamble”, in World Wide Words.