Hugger-mugger
Hugger-mugger , noun
[Scot. huggrie-muggrie; Prov. English hugger to lie in ambush, mug mist, muggard sullen.]
1.
Privacy; secrecy. Commonly in the phrase in hugger-mugger, with haste and secrecy. [Archaic]
Many things have been done in hugger-mugger.
2.
Confusion; disorder.
Hugger-mugger , adjective
1.
Secret; clandestine; sly.
2.
Confused; disorderly; slovenly; mean; as, hugger-mugger doings.