Search the Dictionary

A succession of confused or nonsencial statements; foolish talk; nonsense. [Colloq.] Often one's dear friend talks something which one scruples to call rigmarole. De Quincey.

To make a loud, confused sound, as winds, waves, passing vehicles, a crowd of persons when shouting together, or the like. The brazen throat of war had ceased to roar. Milton. How oft I crossed where carts and coaches roar. Gay.

gh abuse of power by the pontiffs to whose care it was committed, this calendar fell into confusion. It was replaced by the Julian calendar. In designating the days of the month, the Romans reckoned backward from three fixed points, the calends, the nones, and the ides. The calends were always the first day of the mont…

The state of being disorganized and thrown into confusion; -- said especially of an army defeated, broken in pieces, and put to flight in disorder or panic; also, the act of defeating and breaking up an army; as, the rout of the enemy was complete. thy army . . . Dispersed in rout, betook them all to fly. Daniel. To th…

To throw into disorder or confusion. Where best He might the ruffled foe infest. Hudibras.

heavy, continuous sound like that made by heavy wagons or the reverberation of thunder; a confused noise; as, the rumble of a railboard train. Clamor and rumble, and ringing and clatter. tennyson. Merged in the rumble of awakening day. H. James.

or its truth; -- in this sense often personified. Rumor next, and Chance, And Tumult, and Confusion, all embroiled. Milton.

A disturbance; noise and confusion; a quarrel. [Colloq.]

A quick succession or confusion of small sounds, like those made by shaking leaves or straw, by rubbing silk, or the like; a rustling. When the noise of a torrent, the rustle of a wood, the song of birds, or the play of lambs, had power to fill the attention, and suspend all perception of the course of time. Idler.…

tain scale of duties . . . which for want of studying in right order, all the world is in confusion. Milton.

Confused and irregular; awkward; scambling. -- Scram"bling*ly, adv. A huge old scrambling bedroom. Sir W. Scott.

Formerly, a skirmish; now, a general row or confused fight or struggle.

Hence, to strive or contend tumultuously; to struggle confusedly or at haphazard. A gallant man had rather fight to great disadvantage in the field, in an orderly way, than scuffle with an undisciplined rabble. Eikon Basilike.

Easily confused or put out of countenance; diffident; bashful; modest. Your shamefaced virtue shunned the people's prise. Dryden.

r of that which produces a sound. Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give To sounds confused. Shak. Let winds be shrill, let waves roll high. Byron.

To mix by pushing or shoving; to confuse; to throw into disorder; especially, to change the relative positions of, as of the cards in a pack. A man may shuffle cards or rattle dice from noon to midnight without tracing a new idea in his mind. Rombler.

uiring state of mind; doubt; uncertainty. That momentary amazement, and irresolution, and confusion, which is the result of skepticism. Hune.

that state of the animal in which there is a lessened acuteness of sensory perception, a confusion of ideas, and a loss of mental control, followed by a more or less unconscious state. "A man that waketh of his sleep." Chaucer. O sleep, thou ape of death. Shak.

To reduce to order from a confused state. Hooker.

To heap up in confusion. [Prov. Eng.] Forby.