helter

helter-skelter

1. adjective Haphazard; chaotic. The campaign has been utterly helter-skelter. They don't even have an official spokesperson, so a lot of contradictory statements have been given by the staff. With such young children, I expected a helter-skelter environment, but the classroom was so orderly.
2. adverb Haphazardly; in a chaotic fashion. You can't just throw in ingredients helter-skelter when you're baking. Everything needs to be measured and added at the right time.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • helter-skelter
  • skelter
  • bulletproof
  • hit and miss
  • hit or miss
  • hit-and-miss
  • mutant
  • appropriate for
  • welcome to (do something)
  • welcome to do
References in classic literature
Men, women and children ran helter skelter for safety.
Son Of Tarzan
It still had its fans, along with the traditional helter skelter, roundabouts and ghost train, but the future was in white knuckles.
Funfair which refuses to die; Pleasureland has taken many knocks over the years says, William Leece, but it just keeps on going and going: Timeless drawof attraction
5 Luc Tuymans in "Apocalypse: Beauty and Horror in Contemporary Art" (Royal Academy of Arts, London) This gentrified "Helter Skelter" knockoff theme show for die-hard YBA enthusiasts had its artful moments, but it was mostly a last-ditch attempt to legitimize the big-budget, low-concept fashion-plate sculptures of preservative-free British art stars like the Chapmans and Tim Noble and Sue Webster.
Dennis Cooper
Now he wants us to continue but pay for our own bags while he wastes pounds 1m on the helter skelter in Redcar that no-one except the council wants.
Deal over recycling; Your say
The Matamp Meeting has been organised by Simon Partridge, lead guitarist with hit local band Helter Skelter.
Music pioneers plan to amplify success
Last year gorgeous presenters Fearne Cotton and Holly Willoughby turned up to tuck in and this year promises great bands and entertainment - including a helter skelter and Mystic Moo the psychic cow.
3AM: Ben & Jerry's
Helter Skelter (Sky Movies 2, 10pm) ON August 9, 1969, five people were slain in a horrific act of seemingly random violence.
Tonight's TV : The Big Movie
(2) "Helter Skelter" (Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1992) The event that definitively tilted the map westward.
Dan Cameron
"Then we'll fly downwind looking for another thermal to lift us up like a helter skelter in reverse."
Para pair soar to success
A focus of the entertainments there was the 50ft high helter skelter, (centre inset)
LAND MARK: Honley enjoying fun and games
Then, wait for it, on one side of the disgrace build a giant helter skelter.
Letter: THE Fourth Grace
He moved west to do graduate work at UCLA partly because he'd been galvanized by the catalogue for Paul Schimmel's once-notorious "Helter Skelter" show at MOCA, which showcased so-called transgressive Los Angeles artists like Mike Kelley, Chris Burden, and Raymond Pettibon.
Jason Meadows
GEOFFREY BULMER, Billingham * * * * * * I READ that Redcar & Cleveland council are to run a competition of what to call the the helter skelter/vertical pier.
Why not call it folly? Your say
Helter Skelter play Masham Town Hall in North Yorkshire on Monday, February 25, supporting the popular 1970s group, which includes original drummer Paul Fenton, who comes from Dewsbury.
T Rex call left us glam rocked; Covers band 'blown away' by gig
Sir Paul, 63,has added some old Beatles'favourites to his set including Helter Skelter and Got To Get You Into My Life.
It's Maccameltdown