mix·ture (m?ks?ch?r)n.1. a. The act or process of mixing: an alloy made from the mixture of two metals.b. The condition of being mixed: the inevitable mixture of different cultures in big cities.2. Something produced by mixing, as:a. A combination of ingredients used in cooking or baking.b. One that consists of diverse elements: The day was a mixture of sun and clouds.c. A fabric made of different kinds of thread or yarn.d. Chemistry A composition of two or more substances that are not chemically combined with each other and are capable of being separated.[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mixt?ra, from mixtus, past participle of misc?re, to mix; see meik- in Indo-European roots.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.mixture (?m?kst??) n1. the act of mixing or state of being mixed2. something mixed; a result of mixing3. (Chemistry) chem a substance consisting of two or more substances mixed together without any chemical bonding between them4. (Pharmacology) pharmacol a liquid medicine in which an insoluble compound is suspended in the liquid5. (Music, other) music an organ stop that controls several ranks of pipes sounding the upper notes in a harmonic series6. (Automotive Engineering) the mixture of petrol vapour and air in an internal-combustion engine[C16: from Latin mixt?ra, from mixtus, past participle of misc?re to mix]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014mix?ture (?m?ks t??r) n. 1. a product of mixing. 2. any combination or blend of different elements. 3. an aggregate of substances not chemically united and existing in no fixed proportion to each other. 4. a fabric woven of yarns combining various colors: a heather mixture. 5. the act of mixing or the state of being mixed. [1425?75; late Middle English (See also AMALGAMATION.)cabbages and kings Anything and everything; odds and ends; assorted and diverse topics, items, etc. The expression comes from Lewis Carroll?s Through the Looking-Glass (1871):?The time has come,? the Walrus said,?To talk of many things:Of shoes?and ships?andsealing-wax?Of cabbages?and kings?And why the sea is boiling hot?And whether pigs have wings.?hodgepodge A heterogeneous mixture, a jumble, a farrago, a gallimaufry, a potpourri. This term is a corruption of the earlier hotchpotch, which in turn is a corruption of hotchpot, from the French hochepot (hocher ?to shake, to shake together? + pot ?pot?), a cookery term for a dish containing a mixture of many ingredients, especially a mutton and vegetable stew. Hodge-podge itself was used figuratively as early as the 15th century.They have made our English tongue a gallimaufry or hodgepodge of all other speeches. (E. K., Epistle Dedicatory and Glosses to Spenser?s Shepherds Calendar, 1579)mishmash A jumble, hodgepodge, or potpourri; a confused mess. Mash alone means ?confused mixture,? suggesting that mishmash may have originated as alliterative wordplay. It has also been suggested that mishmash comes from the Danish mischmasch. Still current, the term and its variants mishmosh and mishmush have been in print since the 16th century.The original Panorama had consisted of a mishmash of disconnected and frequently frivolous items. (Listener, October 30, 1975)potluck Leftovers, odds and ends; potpourri, hodgepodge; an entity of uncertain composition. This expression is derived from, and still most commonly refers to, leftover food that has been placed in a pot, usually over a period of several days, and then served as a meal at a later date. The rationale for luck is that one takes his chances, that is, does not know what food to expect, when he is invited to partake of a potluck dinner. By extension, potluck can refer to any conglomeration from which a person makes a blind or indiscriminate selection.[He] took the same kind of pot-luck company in those days when he was not so shy of London. (Madame D?Arblay, The Early Diary of Frances Burney, 1775)threads and thrums Odds and ends, scraps, fragments; a hodgepodge, a mishmash. Thrums are the unwoven portions of warp yarn which remain attached to the loom when the web is cut off, useless fragments of knotted threads.The confused and ravelled mass of threads and thrums, ycleped Memoires. (Thomas Carlyle, ?Diderot,? Miscellaneous Essays, 1833)See also thread and thrum, TOTALITY.