holus-bolus

English

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

holus-bolus

Where it comes from

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.

adverb

not comparable All together; entirely; without modification. to accept a story holus-bolus.

Translations

Every language

adv all together, unmodified

Español	completamente, totalmente
Italiano	in toto

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"holus-bolus." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/holus-bolus. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

holus-bolus. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/holus-bolus

Chicago

"holus-bolus." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/holus-bolus.

BibTeX

@misc{holus_bolus_2026,
  title = {holus-bolus},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/holus-bolus},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}