Dictionary

hullabaloo en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio
• /ˌhʌləbəˈluː/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈhʌləbəˌlu/ (General-American)
• (Australia) audio
• /ˌhʌləbəˈlu/ (General-American)

Etymology

Possibly a rhyming reduplication of halloo (used as a greeting or to catch attention; used in hunting to urge on pursuers), hilloa, hullo (variants of “hello”), and similar words.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A clamour, a commotion; a fuss or uproar.
   • 'Sarah, could you bring me the calendar from the wall over there? Does it say the right date?' 'Two days behind – and small wonder no one tore it off with all the hullaballoo going on. Ever so pretty, isn't it?' said Sarah as she handed the calendar to Jessamy. 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 32:
   • […]The truth of all this hullaballoo was that Rigby had a sly pension which, by an inevitable association of ideas, he always connected with the maintenance of an Aristocracy. 1844, Benjamin Disraeli, Coningsby, or The New Generation, volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], pages 234–235:
   • They made such a hullabaloo about the change that the authorities were forced to change it back.
   • Certainly they had brought with them some rotten hippo–meat, which couldn’t have lasted very long, anyway, even if the pilgrims hadn’t, in the midst of a shocking hullabaloo, thrown a considerable quantity of it overboard. 1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II:
   • He was so fascinated by the sight of this bald wolf that he would have lost his flock, perhaps himself been eaten and certainly been beaten to the bone for negligence had not the goats themselves raised their heads, snuffed danger and run off, bleating and whinnying, so that the men came, firing guns, making hullabaloo, scaring the wolves away. 1982, Angela Carter, “Peter and the Wolf”, in T. J. Binding, editor, Firebird 1: Writing Today, Harmondsworth, Greater London: Penguin Books/Allen Lane, →ISBN, page 42:

Forms

Relateds

rumpus · bedlam · brouhaha · commotion · pandemonium · hoopla · kerfuffle

Synonyms

bobbery · splatterdash · shemozzle · quarrel · stooshie · hoo-ha · pandemonium · palaver · unrest · bustle · rumpus · foofaraw · bangarang · clamour · trouble · tomfoolery · stir · fuss · hubbub · ferment · uproar · flap · ado · shindy · bunfight · rowdydow · disturbance · outcry · tumult · mayhem · hurly-burly · merry hell · hoo-hah · flutter · brouhaha · hullabaloo · ruckus · argy-bargy · pother · fracas · commotion · upstir · chaos · riot · disruption · to-do · to-do · hype · turmoil · furor · kerfuffle · clatter · ado · bust-up · hobbleshaw · three-ring circus

Translations (63)

es algarabía (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · pl poruszenie (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · is hamagangur (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · de Gedöns (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · hsb keklija (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · bg дандания (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · sv uppståndelse (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · de Tohuwabohu (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · sv hallabaloo (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · cy halibalŵ (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · de Theater (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · es rebato (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · fi meteli (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · de Aufregung (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · cs povyk (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · ru тарара́м (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · is buslugangur (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · es descalzaperros (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · pl raban (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · pl rwetes (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · es aspaviento (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · fi mekastus (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · de Zirkus (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · de Aufheben (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · fr clameur (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · fr émeute (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · nl bombarie (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · fr branlebas (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · hsb šmjat (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · tr karışıklık (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · sv kalabalik (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · ga fuilibiliú (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · lv brēka (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · fr branle-bas (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · es rebullicio (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · fi hulabaloo (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · es excitación (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · hsb rozbudźenosć (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · de Rummel (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · pl zamieszanie (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · es trapisonda (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · es barullo (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · hu felzúdulás (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · hsb hołk (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · de Wirbel (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · fr excitation (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · es revuelo (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · sv liv (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · de Bohei (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · ga fuililiú (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · tr hayhuy (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · tr teşevvüş (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · fr tintamarre (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · de Aufruhr (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · bg калабалък (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · cy halabalŵ (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · fi hulina (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · fi mekkala (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · fr buzz (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · hsb šmjatańca (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · cy dadwrdd (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · bg гюрултия (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar) · ar جَلَبَة (clamour, commotion, fuss or uproar)

hullabaloo en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio
• /ˌhʌləbəˈluː/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈhʌləbəˌlu/ (General-American)
• (Australia) audio
• /ˌhʌləbəˈlu/ (General-American)

Etymology

Possibly a rhyming reduplication of halloo (used as a greeting or to catch attention; used in hunting to urge on pursuers), hilloa, hullo (variants of “hello”), and similar words.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To make a commotion or uproar.
   • Ho, hullaballoing clan / Agape, with woe / In your beaks, on the gabbing capes! 1952, Dylan Thomas, “Author’s Prologue”, in Collected Poems, 1934–1952, Dent, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2016:
   • "Nonsense, child," said my father, smiling. "Did you ever see a stone thrown into the pond? there's a great splash, and a few circles on the water, and that's about all, isn't it? Well, when I die there'll be a great splash of tears and hullaballooing, and a few circles of tender recollections, and then the surface will smooth itself over, and it'll be all right again." 1867, Rhoda Broughton, Cometh Up as a Flower: An Autobiography, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], pages 53–54:
   • Twitter broke the news, and soon enough, the media hullaballooed over this latest act of art vandalism. 2012 October 30, Jessica Redmond, “It was all yellow: Some dude defaces a Rothko in the name of ‘yellowism’”, in Columbia Spectator:
   • They roared, they danced, they hullaballoed, they pinched one another; they behaved like young savages – but I knew I had got them safe. 1844, George Carter Needham, Street Arabs and Gutter Snipes: The Pathetic and Humorous Side of Young Vagabond Life in the Great Cities, with Records of Work for Their Reclamation, D. L. Guernsey:
   • In addition to size, manufacturers hope to attract buyers with added gadgetry despite disappointing sales of 3D televisions, an innovation hullaballooed at CES last year only to flop in stores. 2013 January 8, Rory Carroll, “CES 2013: TV companies hope size and sharpness are the future”, in The Guardian:

Forms

Translations (12)

de einen Wirbel machen (to make a commotion or uproar) · de einen Rummel veranstalten (to make a commotion or uproar) · de für Wirbel sorgen (to make a commotion or uproar) · es poner el grito en el cielo (to make a commotion or uproar) · fr chichiter (to make a commotion or uproar) · es hacer muchos aspavientos (to make a commotion or uproar) · de viel Aufheben machen (to make a commotion or uproar) · fr faire des chichis (to make a commotion or uproar) · de Wellen schlagen (to make a commotion or uproar) · pl wywołać wielkie poruszenie (to make a commotion or uproar) · pl wywoływać wielkie poruszenie (to make a commotion or uproar) · scn fari casinu (to make a commotion or uproar)