Green’s Dictionary of Slang

in a mess, jumbled up.

1821–5		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) xi: Into my chest, holusbolus, went the fine fellow’s present.
1838		‘Nights At Sea’ in Bentley’s Misc. Apr. 593: We’d driven ’em all, holus bolus, overboard.
1843		T. Haliburton Sam Slick in England II 100: The word English will be left out holus-bolus.
1857		T. Hughes Tom Brown’s School-Days (1896) 17: Having resolved to ‘sar’ it out, as we say in the Vale, ‘holus-bolus’ just as it comes.
1868		W. Collins Moonstone (1966) 345: I took Mrs Betteridge – affectionately, you understand – up in my arms, and carried her, holus-bolus, into the best parlour.
1879		‘’Arry on the Rail’ in Punch 13 Sept. 109/1: Shrimps? Scissors! ’Ow Carry did crunch ’em! [...] / Heads off, and then bolt, holus-bolus — that’s bizness!
1881		Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Jan. 8/4: And yet to pretend not to think that the parson’s shaft was not levelled at the Lyre’s astounding murders, suicides, and outrages, clipped holus-bolus from the wildest and most sensational Yankee papers!
1890		Devizes & Wilts. Gaz. 26 June 3/5: The inhabitants bury their filth [...] or toss it holus-bolus into the public streets.
1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 13 Oct. 4/7: The two dryblowers simply cut the tent-string [and] rolled the corpse up holus-bolus in it.
1908		Denton (MD) Journal 7 Mar. 3/5: There was a first class carr’ge door opin right forninst me, an’ into that the gyard crams me holus-bolus.
1915		Western Dly Press 31 Mar. 9/2: The operation of tearing up the line and taking it away holus-bolus has been discontinued.
1924		Dundee Courier 15 May 5/4: Mr Ramsay MacDonald has swallowed, holus bolus, the question of reparations.
1932		Dundee Courier 3 May 10/2: Instead of turning the contents of a stew-pan holus-bolus on to a dish, lift out the meat first and arrange the vegetables neatly round about it.
1945		(con. 1900s) S. O’Casey Drums Under the Windows 145: Isn’t it enough that our priests have said the thing is to be condemned holus-bolus, in toto, without reservation.
1953		Dundee Courier 16 Nov. 6/4: Balls were bashed holus-bolus into the crowd.
1969		Aus. Women’s Wkly 23 July 52/2: She would gladly chuff off all responsibilty and get rid of her family holus-bolus for a time.