{ Hotch"pot` (?), Hotch"potch` (?), }
n. [F. hochepot, fr. hocher to shake
+ pot pot; both of Dutch or German origin; cf. OD.
hutspot hotchpotch, D. hotsen, hutsen, to shake.
See Hustle, and Pot, and cf. Hodgepodge.]
1. A mingled mass; a confused mixture; a stew of
various ingredients; a hodgepodge.
A mixture or hotchpotch of many
tastes.
Bacon.
2. (Law) A blending of property for
equality of division, as when lands given in frank-marriage to one
daughter were, after the death of the ancestor, blended with the
lands descending to her and to her sisters from the same ancestor,
and then divided in equal portions among all the daughters. In modern
usage, a mixing together, or throwing into a common mass or stock, of
the estate left by a person deceased and the amounts advanced to any
particular child or children, for the purpose of a more equal
division, or of equalizing the shares of all the children; the
property advanced being accounted for at its value when given.
Bouvier. Tomlins.
&fist; This term has been applied in cases of salvage.
Story. It corresponds in a measure with collation in
the civil and Scotch law. See Collation. Bouvier.
Tomlins.