Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
conglomeration
English answer:
confusion, muddle, predicament
Added to glossary by
Nick Lingris
Apr 8, 2006 16:46
18 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term
United Kingdom
The word is my oyster
Native in: Greek 
Works in: English to Greek, Greek to English, Greek
conglomeration
English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
The word appears twice in the first chapter of Dickens's Bleak House, in the description of the Lord Chancellor's court. What is its exact meaning in this context?
A sallow prisoner has come up, in custody, for the half-dozenth time to make a personal application "to purge himself of his contempt," which, being a solitary surviving executor *who has fallen into a state of conglomeration* about accounts of which it is not pretended that he had ever any knowledge, he is not at all likely ever to do. In the meantime his prospects in life are ended.
And in the chapter’s final paragraph:
The Chancellor is about to bow to the bar when the prisoner is presented. *Nothing can possibly come of the prisoner's conglomeration* but his being sent back to prison, which is soon done. The man from Shropshire ventures another remonstrative "My lord!" but the Chancellor, being aware of him, has dexterously vanished. Everybody else quickly vanishes too. A battery of blue bags is loaded with heavy charges of papers and carried off by clerks; the little mad old woman marches off with her documents; the empty court is locked up. If all the injustice it has committed and all the misery it has caused could only be locked up with it, and the whole burnt away in a great funeral pyre--why so much the better for other parties than the parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce!
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
A sallow prisoner has come up, in custody, for the half-dozenth time to make a personal application "to purge himself of his contempt," which, being a solitary surviving executor *who has fallen into a state of conglomeration* about accounts of which it is not pretended that he had ever any knowledge, he is not at all likely ever to do. In the meantime his prospects in life are ended.
And in the chapter’s final paragraph:
The Chancellor is about to bow to the bar when the prisoner is presented. *Nothing can possibly come of the prisoner's conglomeration* but his being sent back to prison, which is soon done. The man from Shropshire ventures another remonstrative "My lord!" but the Chancellor, being aware of him, has dexterously vanished. Everybody else quickly vanishes too. A battery of blue bags is loaded with heavy charges of papers and carried off by clerks; the little mad old woman marches off with her documents; the empty court is locked up. If all the injustice it has committed and all the misery it has caused could only be locked up with it, and the whole burnt away in a great funeral pyre--why so much the better for other parties than the parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce!
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
Responses
Change log
Apr 8, 2006 23:36: NancyLynn changed "Field (write-in)" from "Oxygen therapy" to "(none)"
Responses
+6
19 mins
Kim Metzger
Mexico
Mexico
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
Mexico
Committed to Quality and Service
Native in: English (Variant: US)
Works in: German to English
Related KudoZ points
:
277
Selected
predicament
The closest applicable definition I could find in my Shorter OED is "a cluster, a heterogeneous mixture, a mixture of heterogeneous elements". In your second example, I think predicament comes close. He finds himself in a predicament, a mess, a muddle, a mare's nest, a jam, a sticky situation, in a fine kettle of fish (Oxford Thesaurus).
Maybe confusion would work in the second case.
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Note added at 20 mins (2006-04-08 17:07:27 GMT)
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Confusion for the FIRST example.
Maybe confusion would work in the second case.
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Note added at 20 mins (2006-04-08 17:07:27 GMT)
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Confusion for the FIRST example.
Reference:
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Sara Noss
: I'm inclined to agree.
1 min
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| agree |
Elena Petelos
39 mins
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| agree |
MikeGarcia
3 hrs
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| agree |
Anna Quail
: Sorry, Kim. Didn't see your note before I answered. I don't agree with predicament, but confusion seems good in this context.
16 hrs
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| agree |
Isodynamia
16 hrs
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| agree |
Alfa Trans (X)
19 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks, Kim, and thank you all. Great food for thought! Hope I don't find myself in such a conglomeration in future! :-}"
10 mins
11 mins
Raging Dreamer
United States
United States
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
United States
Related KudoZ points
:
4
Finding himself in the predicament of being in a crowd which he does not wish to be. See below.
con·glom·er·ate Audio pronunciation of "conglomerate" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kn-glm-rt)
v. con·glom·er·at·ed, con·glom·er·at·ing, con·glom·er·ates
v. intr.
1. To form or gather into a mass or whole.
2. To form into or merge with a corporate conglomerate.
v. tr.
To cause to form into a mass or whole.
n. (-r-t)
1. A corporation made up of a number of different companies that operate in diversified fields.
2. A collected heterogeneous mass; a cluster: a city-suburban conglomerate; a conglomerate of color, passion, and artistry.
3. Geology. A rock consisting of pebbles and gravel embedded in cement.
adj. (-r-t)
1. Gathered into a mass; clustered.
2. Geology. Made up of loosely cemented heterogeneous material.
In this context, being that he is a prisoner and is normally keeps to himself (as I can gather) he finds himself in a mass of other people (those who have him in custody) over an issue of money (again, from what I can gather).
v. con·glom·er·at·ed, con·glom·er·at·ing, con·glom·er·ates
v. intr.
1. To form or gather into a mass or whole.
2. To form into or merge with a corporate conglomerate.
v. tr.
To cause to form into a mass or whole.
n. (-r-t)
1. A corporation made up of a number of different companies that operate in diversified fields.
2. A collected heterogeneous mass; a cluster: a city-suburban conglomerate; a conglomerate of color, passion, and artistry.
3. Geology. A rock consisting of pebbles and gravel embedded in cement.
adj. (-r-t)
1. Gathered into a mass; clustered.
2. Geology. Made up of loosely cemented heterogeneous material.
In this context, being that he is a prisoner and is normally keeps to himself (as I can gather) he finds himself in a mass of other people (those who have him in custody) over an issue of money (again, from what I can gather).
+1
11 mins
mess, bundle, grouping
a guess - executor normally means the one who is carrying out the execution of a will/estate. sounds like debtors and others (family members?) have thrown the book at him as the only possible source ; since he cannot prove innocence is doomed to an undefined period in jail.
conglomeration. Roget s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition. 1995.
...A collection of various things: assortment, gallimaufry, hodgepodge, jumble, medley, mélange, miscellany, mishmash, mixed bag, mixture, olio, patchwork, potpourri,...
2) conglomeration. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
...The act or process of conglomerating. b. The state of being conglomerated. 2. An accumulation of miscellaneous things....
conglomeration. Roget s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition. 1995.
...A collection of various things: assortment, gallimaufry, hodgepodge, jumble, medley, mélange, miscellany, mishmash, mixed bag, mixture, olio, patchwork, potpourri,...
2) conglomeration. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
...The act or process of conglomerating. b. The state of being conglomerated. 2. An accumulation of miscellaneous things....
+2
22 mins
Joseph Brazauskas
United States
United States
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
United States
When You Want It Done Right
Native in: English (Variant: British) 
, Spanish (Variant: Standard-Spain)
Works in: Latin to English, English to Latin, Greek (Ancient) to English, and 23 more.
heavy debt
Or possibly 'bankruptcy'. The word, especially in this legal context, seems to suggest a heterogeneous assortment of debts or obligations.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
juvera
: We have a saying: the waves closed over him. To me this means the same: the mass of debts conglomerated to swallow him up. More simply as you put it, a burden of the conglomeration of various debts.
1 hr
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Thank you!
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| agree |
Dave Calderhead
8 hrs
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Thank you!
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57 mins
Elizabeth Lyons
United States
United States
Native in English
&
English
United States
Scientist / Linguist
Native in: English (Variants: UK, US)
Works in: French to English, Italian to English, Portuguese to English, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
24
quandary/state of conflict/conflicted
This is how I read this. There is a sense of incongruence but also a sense of paralysis as to how to act.
16 hrs
Anna Quail
France
France
Native in English
&
English
France
Once a translator...
Native in: English (Variants: British, Irish, UK)
Works in: French to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
4
1st example : confusion / 2nd example: confused account
Dickens likes this word! It is a nice descriptive term he uses elsewhere - eg in David Copperfield:
"...she informed me that her brother dealt in lobsters, crabs, and crawfish; and I afterwards found that a heap of these creatures, in a state of wonderful conglomeration with one another, and never leaving off pinching whatever they laid hold of,... "
According to Collins Cobuild, "A conglomeration of things is a group of many different things, gathered together. "
The Free Dictionary says:
"an occurrence combining miscellaneous things into a (more or less) rounded mass"
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/conglomeration
I think this describes the prisoner's state of mind. He has a lot of miscellaneous information and doesn't know how to analyse it. He is mixed up - there are all sorts of thoughts conglomerated in his mind and he can't sort them out. His account is therefore of no use and he is sent back to his cell.
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Note added at 17 hrs (2006-04-09 10:13:57 GMT)
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You could also say "muddle", which is closer to the general meaning of conglomeration (would also suit the conglomeration of crabs etc.) but of course that wouldn't be a very Dickensian register ;-)
"...she informed me that her brother dealt in lobsters, crabs, and crawfish; and I afterwards found that a heap of these creatures, in a state of wonderful conglomeration with one another, and never leaving off pinching whatever they laid hold of,... "
According to Collins Cobuild, "A conglomeration of things is a group of many different things, gathered together. "
The Free Dictionary says:
"an occurrence combining miscellaneous things into a (more or less) rounded mass"
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/conglomeration
I think this describes the prisoner's state of mind. He has a lot of miscellaneous information and doesn't know how to analyse it. He is mixed up - there are all sorts of thoughts conglomerated in his mind and he can't sort them out. His account is therefore of no use and he is sent back to his cell.
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Note added at 17 hrs (2006-04-09 10:13:57 GMT)
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You could also say "muddle", which is closer to the general meaning of conglomeration (would also suit the conglomeration of crabs etc.) but of course that wouldn't be a very Dickensian register ;-)
Discussion
For the sake of fairness, I will choose the most popular answer, but allow the glossary to reflect the ambiguity of the term.