slopperies

Noun

sloppery (countable and uncountable, plural slopperies)

1. Messiness.
   • And clearly the sailor suit could not trace its true home to a country like ours, which goes in for a widespread concept of uniform usage best described as "sloppery."2003, Paul Fussell, Uniforms: Why We Are What We Wear, →ISBN, page 160
2. Careless imprecision.
   • Extremes, they say, are prone to meet ; thus, while Yachting is, in matter of practical usage and etiquette, the most ultra exclusive of all our National Sports — presto, it has become the machinery for retail sloppery in the hire of pleasure boats.1853, John William Carleton, The Sporting review, ed. by 'Craven'. (July), page 116
3. Lack of clear-headedness; fuzzy thinking.
   • This was just — Sloppery. The humbug of the woe-of-the-world business filled her with scorn.1935, Warwick Deeping, The golden cord, page 119
4. Watery unappetizing food; gruel.
   • Stews out of all such piddling sloppery, Starvation gruel.1838, Samuel Kettell, Yankee Notions: A Medley, page 105
5. A low-class drinking establishment.
   • So he jess goes an' sends one on 'em off to England an' 'tother to the south on a two year mishonerry trip, 'an then he comes along 'an claps his cock-eyed sign on the shebang 'an now it's: “All Saints Holy Zion's Co-operative distillery'” or sloppery, wichever ye like.1890, Herman Isidore Stern, Evelyn Gray: Or, The Victims of Our Western Turks
6. Anything that is sloppy.
   • It is a sloppery; a costume that never ought to be seen out of the precincts of a stable-yard.1847, The Literary Gazette

See all 8 meanings of sloppery