Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Hugger-mugger \Hug"ger-mug`ger\, n. [Scot. huggrie-muggrie;
   Prov. E. hugger to lie in ambush, mug mist, muggard sullen.]
   Privacy; secrecy. Commonly in the phrase in hugger-mugger,
   with haste and secrecy. [Archaic]

         Many things have been done in hugger-mugger. --Fuller.

Hugger-mugger \Hug"ger-mug`ger\, a.
   1. Secret; clandestine; sly.

   2. Confused; disorderly; slovenly; mean; as, hugger-mugger
      doings.

Source : WordNet®

hugger-mugger
     adj 1: in utter disorder; "a disorderly pile of clothes" [syn: {disorderly},
             {higgledy-piggledy}, {jumbled}, {topsy-turvy}]
     2: conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods;
        "clandestine intelligence operations"; "cloak-and-dagger
        activities behind enemy lines"; "hole-and-corner
        intrigue"; "secret missions"; "a secret agent"; "secret
        sales of arms"; "surreptitious mobilization of troops";
        "an undercover investigation"; "underground resistance"
        [syn: {clandestine}, {cloak-and-dagger}, {hole-and-corner(a)},
         {hush-hush}, {on the quiet(p)}, {secret}, {surreptitious},
         {undercover}, {underground}]
     n : a state of confusion; ritual accompanied by complicated and
         purposeless activity that obscures and confuses; "he
         engaged in the hugger-mugger of international finance"
         [syn: {mumbo jumbo}]
     adv : in secrecy; "they did it all hugger-mugger"