helter-skelter

Meanings

1. In confused, disorderly haste.

1. Carelessly hurried and confused.

1. Confusion or turmoil.
2. An amusement ride consisting of a slide that spirals down around the exterior of a tapering central tower.

Etymology

In form a reduplication (similar to hurry-scurry and harum-scarum, both with initial /h-/ and /sk-/); perhaps based on Middle English skelten ("to hasten; to raise an alarm"), or maybe related to Old High German skeltan (“scold”) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel- (“make noise, yell”), employed as a fossil word.