Dictionary

hurlyburly en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio Audio (US)

Etymology

Likely an altered reduplication of hurling (“a tumult”). Compare Swedish huller om buller.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) Full of disorder or noisy confusion.
   • "I understand the circus that it is," Springer says of the hurly-burly mob scene that often overtakes his show. 1998, Aileen Joyce, Jerry Springer: For The First Time Ever, It All Hangs Out!, page 12:

Forms

Relateds

hustle and bustle · hurling and burling

Translations (10)

ja 喧騒 (noisy and disorderly tumult) · ru смятение (noisy and disorderly tumult) · ru переполох (noisy and disorderly tumult) · fi melske (noisy and disorderly tumult) · sv oväsen (noisy and disorderly tumult) · ru суматоха (noisy and disorderly tumult) · ga gírle guairle (noisy and disorderly tumult) · ga hurla burla (noisy and disorderly tumult) · sv tumult (noisy and disorderly tumult) · el αναμπουμπούλα (noisy and disorderly tumult)

hurlyburly en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio Audio (US)

Etymology

Likely an altered reduplication of hurling (“a tumult”). Compare Swedish huller om buller.

Meanings

1. (countable, idiomatic, uncountable) A noisy and disorderly tumult and confusion, especially as of battle.
   • ...for nought is ceaſſed and gone already, what an hurlyburly (?) inconvenience ſhoulde followe or it maye be eaſely perceived. 1550, Steuen Mierdman, The market or fayre of usurers:
   • Why is it that civilized humanity / Can make the world so wrong? / In this hurly-burly of insanity / Our dreams cannot last long c. 1933, “Twentieth-Century Blues”, performed by Noël Coward:
   • 1. When ſhall we three meet againe? / In Thunder, Lightning, or in Raine? / 2. When the Hurly-burley's done, / When the Battaile's loſt, and wonne. c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 131:

Forms