Dictionary

hoopla en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈhuːplɑ/

Etymology

Earlier houp-la, hoop la, first attested in c. 1877, probably from French houp-là, oup-là (“upsadaisy, upsy-daisy”), a cry to various animals close to humans like horses and dogs, of likely onomatopoeic origin (but see là). Compare interjections like whoop, ahoy, hoo.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A bustling to-do, excited speech or noise.
   • Some astronomers dislike the whole supermoon hoopla. They point out that the term originated with astrology, not astronomy; that perigee full moons are not all that rare, coming an average of every 13 months; and that their apparently swollen dimensions are often as much a matter of optical illusion and wishful blinking as of relative lunar nearness. 2014 September 7, Natalie Angier, “The Moon comes around again [print version: Revisiting a moon that still has secrets to reveal: Supermoon revives interest in its violent origins and hidden face, International New York Times, 10 September 2014, p. 8]”, in The New York Times:
   • Campers enjoyed all of the traditional camp hoopla: color wars, shared team games with other camps and young eager college students spending their summer as counselors. 2008, Michigan Jewish History, volume 48, page 24:
   • Say you don't know me, or recognize my face / Say you don't care who goes to that kind of place / Knee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight / Too many runaways eating up the night 1985, “We Built This City”, in Bernie Taupin, Martin Page, Dennis Lambert, Peter Wolf (music), Knee Deep in the Hoopla, performed by Starship:
2. (countable, uncountable) A carnival game in which the player attempts to throw hoops around pegs.

Forms

Translations (8)

ru кутерьма́ (clamour, brouhaha) · de Rummel (clamour, brouhaha) · el κρίκοι (a carnival with throwing hoops) · ru ажиота́ж (clamour, brouhaha) · de Gedöns (clamour, brouhaha) · mk вре́ва (clamour, brouhaha) · ru шуми́ха (clamour, brouhaha) · de Bohei (clamour, brouhaha)