Word.ws English Dictionary

holus-bolus

holus-bolus adverb: all together; entirely; without modification.

Adverb

holus-bolus (not comparable)

  1. All together; entirely; without modification.
    • to accept a story holus-bolus.
    • I’ll take it on my shoulders, holus bolus, blame and shame, my boy; but stay here, I cannot let you. Jump! One jump, and you’re out, and we’ll run for it like antelopes.1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC

holus-bolus meaning in Tamil

holus-bolus in Tamil

திடீரென்று, திரட்சியாக

Origin of holus-bolus

Reduplication; further etymology unknown. Possibly of Ancient Greek origin, from ὅλος (hólos, “whole”) and βόλος (bólos, “a throw with a casting net”) or βῶλος (bôlos, “lump”). Alternatively, a pseudo-Latinism derived from a reduplication of bolus with whole. Compare similar pseudo-Latin reduplications such as hocus-pocus and omnium-gatherum.

Questions about holus-bolus

What does holus-bolus mean?
Holus-bolus means all together; entirely; without modification.
What is holus-bolus in Tamil?
Holus-bolus in Tamil is திடீரென்று, திரட்சியாக. See Holus-bolus meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is holus-bolus?
Holus-bolus is an adverb.

Words near holus-bolus in the dictionary

  1. holubtsi
  2. Holum
  3. Holums
  4. holup
  5. holus bolus
  6. holus-bolus
  7. Holway
  8. Holways
  9. Holwell
  10. Holwells
  11. Holwill

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: holus-bolus (page history and authors); holus-bolus (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “holus-bolus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/holus-bolus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.