Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
adverb
- in headlong and disorderly haste: The children ran helter-skelter all over the house.
- in a haphazard manner; without regard for order: Clothes were scattered helter-skelter about the room.
adjective
- carelessly hurried; confused: They ran in a mad, helter-skelter fashion for the exits.
- disorderly; haphazard: Books and papers were scattered on the desk in a helter-skelter manner.
noun
- tumultuous disorder; confusion.
adjective
- haphazard or carelessly hurried
adverb
- in a helter-skelter manner
noun
- British a high spiral slide, as at a fairground
- disorder or haste
also helter skelter, 1590s, perhaps from skelte “to hasten, scatter hurriedly,” with the first element there merely for the sake of rhyme. As an adjective from 1785.