medley

[ med-lee ]

noun

, plural med·leys.

1. a mixture, especially of heterogeneous elements; hodgepodge; jumble.
2. a piece of music combining tunes or passages from various sources:

   a medley of hit songs from Broadway shows.

adjective

1. Archaic. mixed; mingled.

medley

/ ˈmɛdlɪ /

noun

1. a mixture of various types or elements
2. a musical composition consisting of various tunes arranged as a continuous whole
3. Also calledmedley relay
   1. swimming a race in which a different stroke is used for each length
   2. athletics a relay race in which each leg has a different distance
4. an archaic word for melee

adjective

1. of, being, or relating to a mixture or variety

Word History and Origins

Origin of medley¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English noun and adjective medle(e), medlei(e), maedlai(e) “battle, war, quarrel; mixture, balanced mixture,” from Anglo-French, Old French medlee, mellee, noun and adjective use of feminine of past participle of medler “to mix, fight”; meddle

Word History and Origins

Origin of medley¹

C14: from Old French medlee, from medler to mix, quarrel