Dear Emmy,
I have thought that pell mell means fast. Maybe fast in many directions.
I found this through Google:
Pell Mell: To run pell mell means to do so in a vigorous, almost reckless, manner. The words are derived from Pall Mall, the London street, in turn derived from an Italian ball game palla (ball) maglio (mallet) which used to be played on the land that eventually became Pall Mall. The players were often vigorous and indiscriminate in their actions, hence the analogy.
Does this help? If you will give the paragraph the puzzling word is in, the context will help in explaining what the expression means.
Do you have expressions in Dutch like this, that aren’t quite translatable?
And thanks, dear VeroniKA, for all your help. You are always right there when needed.
With love and blessings,
Gloria