bric-a-brac

Noun

bric-a-brac (usually uncountable, plural bric-a-brac)

1. (also, attributive, usually) Small ornaments and other miscellaneous display items of little value.
   • The palace of Versailles has been turned into a bricabrac shop, of late years; and its time-honoured walls have been covered with many thousand yards of the worst pictures that eye ever looked on.1840, M. A. Titmarsh [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Meditations at Versailles”, in The Paris Sketch Book, volume II, London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC, page 267
   • No doubt her pleasure would have been at that moment to give him not only that gold which she had been saving up against rent-day, but the spoons, the furniture, and all the valuables of the house, including, perhaps, J. J.'s bricabrac, cabinets, china, and so forth.1861 January – 1862 August, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “In which Philip Shows His Mettle”, in The Adventures of Philip on His Way through the World; […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co....

   Synonyms:

   brickety-brack, knick-knacks, novelty item, bauble, novelty, fandangle, fangle, fizgig, folderol, gewgaw

2. (also, attributive, broadly, usually) Any collection containing a variety of miscellaneous items; a hodgepodge, an olio.
   • Yes: I think he is a good fellow: rather miscellaneous and bric-à-brac, but likable.1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XLIII, in Middlemarch […], volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book V, page 13

   Synonyms:

   mishmash, oddments, curios, ornaments, baubles, bouillabaisse, catch-all, clamjamfrey, cocktail, rummage

   Antonyms:

   valuables, treasures