helter-skelter

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
  • bulletproof
  • hit and miss
  • hit or miss
  • hit-and-miss
  • mutant
  • appropriate for
  • welcome to (do something)
  • welcome to do
References in periodicals archive
Kachala said, 'initially, we thought the military were test firing their equipment, but when the other troops at Molai general responded to the fire, residents ran helter-skelter.
Sporadic Gunshots Cause Skirmishes In Maiduguri
And there was a helter-skelter game at Milltown, where WARRENPOINT emerged 5-3 winners against DUNGANNON SWIFTS.
MILLAR TIME FOR BALLYMENA
There'll be fine music from bands Helter-Skelter and The Rising and, just as important, a short talk put on by Addiction NI - to whom all proceeds from the night will go.
Light to shine from night for diamond Kloe
In a letter written to the Chief Election Commissioner and nominated Punjab caretaker chief minister, PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry pointed out that Hamid's appointment was made in a helter-skelter manner without following the required procedure laid down for such an appointment.
Asma Hamid's appointment as AG Punjab pre-poll rigging: PTI
Customers at a supermarket in Bandar Baru Air Itam here ran helter-skelter to save themselves after the roof of the two-storey supermarket was blown off by a tornado yesterday.
Panic as tornado blows roof off supermarket in Penang
So, to return, helter-skelter and pell-mell, to tittle-tattle ...
As everyone knows the rhyme goes unnoticed in prose
Southport's helter-skelter lighthouse was a popular attraction in Edwardian times.
To the lighthouses; MERSEYSIDE TALES
Puri told ANI, "I went out to see people running helter-skelter. The victim's head had been blown off from one side."
Explosion at chemical factory in Delhi, one dead
National Trust wildlife expert Matthew Oates said plants and animals appeared to have come through the wettest and stormiest winter on record with nature hurtling "helter-skelter" through the seasons ever since.
Welsh wildlife thinks it is autumn already
He said that "helter-skelter" prices could end up bouncing back up sharply later this year.
Car insurance costs dropping; pound NOTES
CAR INSURANCE COSTS TAKE A "HELTER-SKELTER" DROP CAR insurance premiums plunged by a record rate of 14.1% over the last year amid a "more fiercely competitive market".
POUND NOTES
And the reason why is that the 26-year-old from Nuneaton also had six bogeys during a helter-skelter 18 holes that left him on 71 and seven shots adrift of the host nation's Merrick Bremner to leave him at just one under par.
Mix of birdies and bogeys for Andy; GOLF
Here, the helter-skelter of destructive feelings begins when Iris (Emily Blunt) dispatches her slacker best friend, Jack (Mark Duplass), to her family's cabin to privately mourn his brother.
Your Sister's Sister; DVD Reviews
The retired 71-year-old - who is married to Valerie, 64, and has two children Andrew, 39, and Sarah, 36 - and his friend noticed a helter-skelter slide in the picture that he believes bears an uncanny resemblance to the proposed "vertical pier".
Looks like vertical seaside scheme's been PIER before! DISCOVERY: Bob Newell
He stays further than this six furlongs, so was suited by the helter-skelter pace over course and distance last time when second to Night Trade, who has come out to win again since.
Central attraction