Unknown. First use appears c. 1745. The OED indicates: "perhaps an arbitrary formation". Possibly an alteration of rumbustical or rumbustious (“boisterous, noisy”) + Latin -us (“nominative suffix”). The use of the verbal form first appears c. 1839.
Meanings
(countable, uncountable) A noisy, sometimes violent disturbance; noise and confusion; a noisy quarrel or brawl.
"I'd like to know how on earth we are going to finish the case with all this umptydoodle rumpus going on." 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 166:
But as his rumpus with Mr. Christie entered its second and third rounds, Mr. Rubio appeared to abandon that game plan. 2016 February 7, Michael Barbaro, “Once Impervious, Marco Rubio Is Diminished by a Caustic Chris Christie”, in The New York Times:
I get up, I get down, and I'm jumping around / And the rumpus and ruckus are comfortable now / Been a hell of a ride, but I'm thinking it's time to grow / Bang! Bang! Bang! 2020 February 12, Jack Met, Adam Met, Ryan Met, “Bang!”, in OK Orchestra, performed by AJR:
(Australia, Canada, New-Zealand, countable, uncountable) A rumpus room.
Unknown. First use appears c. 1745. The OED indicates: "perhaps an arbitrary formation". Possibly an alteration of rumbustical or rumbustious (“boisterous, noisy”) + Latin -us (“nominative suffix”). The use of the verbal form first appears c. 1839.
Meanings
(informal, intransitive) To cause a noisy disturbance or commotion.
All night, as wide awake as gnats, The terriers rumpused after rats, Or, just for practice, taught their brats, To worry cast-off shoes and hats. 1851, James Russell Lowell, Unhappy Mr. Knott, page 291:
She had been rumpusing with the poker and tongs during the dialogue between the guests, and she enforced her order by thrusting the poker towards the distant corner where the girl sat, as she spoke. 1876, Julie P. Smith, His Young Wife, A Novel, page 56:
Instead she rumpuses about waving her legs in the air and spinning her feet doing three exercises she dubs "Tumbleweed, Clothespin, and Wind Farm." 2019, Sam Pickering, The World Was My Garden, Too:
... and Marie routed up Mammy nights, and rumpussed and scolded, with more energy than ever, all day, on the strength of this new misery. 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly, page 81:
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