mare's-nest

[ mairz-nest ]

noun

1. something imagined to be an extraordinary discovery but proving to be a delusion or a hoax:

   The announced cure for the disease was merely another mare's-nest.

2. an extremely confused, entangled, or disordered place, situation, etc.:

   We just moved in, and the place is a mare's-nest.

mare's-nest

noun

1. a discovery imagined to be important but proving worthless
2. a disordered situation

Word History and Origins

Origin of mare's-nest¹

First recorded in 1610–20

Example Sentences

He said a “mare’s nest” of procedural problems stood in the way of the court making such a decision, however, and his words read more like a warning for the future.

From Washington Post

“It has become clear that this mare’s nest could stand in the way” of deciding the case “or at the very least, complicate our resolution of that question,” he wrote.

From Seattle Times

But Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the case had become a “mare’s nest,” with a number of other thorny legal questions tucked inside.

From Washington Times

But he added that a “mare’s nest” of procedural issues stood in the way of a clean resolution of those questions.

From New York Times

They'd keep slipping out of the stockade's granite boreholes and, as for his hair, how could any sculptor, no matter how gifted, be expected to reproduce such a mare's nest?

From Salon