A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1983 (DOST Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Pel(l)-mel(l, adv. (a., n., v.) Also: pesle-, peele- and -melle, -mesle. [e.m.E. pel(l)-mell, pesle-mesle, also peale-meale, adv. (1579), adj. (1596), noun (1598), also in mod. Eng. as verb (once, 1792), F. pêle-mêle, OF. pesle-mesle (12th c.), pelle-melle (14th c.).]
1. adv. In violent confusion, headlong, in disorder.c1590 J. Stewart 67/76.
As fell thunder … passand throch the elements pelmell 1581-1623 James VI Poems I. 165/476.
Fortoune blynde … The camp of thridde Eumenide fell confusediie pesle mesle guydes 1627 Dumbarton B. Rec. 13.
All pell mell throw uthir 1665 Lauder Jrnl. 44.
Ther may we sy the wawes peele mel swallowing up wolfes and sheip
2. adj. Disorderly and violent; tumultuous; confused.1585 James VI Ess. 17.
Syne phifers, [etc.] … do craue The pelmell chok with larum loude alwhair Id. Poems I. 141/247.
Suche pesle melle dinnis & ringing noyse
3. noun. Confusion, tumultuous disorder, or an instance of this.At pell-mell, in headlong confusion, in tumultuous disorder.(1) c1590 J. Stewart 11/13.
That heauen and erth and hell and all may heir This pert pelmell quhilk present sall appeir(2) 1637 Lithgow Siege Breda 28.
The buttery Dutches … fled, leaving with the … exasperate enemies the Scotts at pell mell ?a1648 Polemo-Mid. 98.
Neberna … Roustæam manibus gestans furibunda goulæam Tandem muckcreilios vocat ad pellmellia fleidos
4. v. tr. To mingle indiscriminately or in disorder.1606 Birnie Kirk-b. xvii.
They pelmell the dead with the liuing all in one kirk c 1630–40 Drummond Fam. Epist. in Wks. (1711) 147.
The game ended, kings, queens, [etc.] … pellmelled are confusedly thrown into the box
