havoc

[hav-uh k] /ˈhæv ək/

noun

great destruction or devastation; ruinous damage.

verb (used with object), havocked, havocking.

to work havoc upon; devastate.

verb (used without object), havocked, havocking.

to work havoc:

The fire havocked throughout the house.

Idioms

cry havoc, to warn of danger or disaster.

play havoc with,

to create confusion or disorder in:
The wind played havoc with the papers on the desk.
to destroy; ruin:
The bad weather played havoc with our vacation plans.

Origin

1400-50; late Middle English havok < Anglo-French (in phrase crier havok to cry havoc, i.e., utter the command havoc! as signal for pillaging), Middle French havot in same sense < Germanic

Related forms

havocker, noun

Synonyms

1. desolation, waste. See ruin.

British Dictionary definitions for cry havoc

havoc

/ˈhævək/

noun

destruction; devastation; ruin

(informal) confusion; chaos

(archaic) cry havoc, to give the signal for pillage and destruction

(often foll by with) play havoc, to cause a great deal of damage, distress, or confusion (to)

verb -ocs, -ocking, -ocked

(transitive) (archaic) to lay waste

Word Origin

C15: from Old French havot pillage, probably of Germanic origin

Word Origin and History for cry havoc

havoc

early 15c., from Anglo-French havok in phrase crier havok "cry havoc" (late 14c.), a signal to soldiers to seize plunder, from Old French havot "pillaging, looting," related to haver "to seize, grasp," hef "hook," probably from a Germanic source (see hawk (n.)), or from Latin habere "to have, possess." General sense of "devastation" first recorded late 15c.

Idioms and Phrases with cry havoc

cry havoc

Sound an alarm or warning, as in In his sermon the pastor cried havoc to the congregation's biases against gays. The noun havoc was once a command for invaders to begin looting and killing the defenders' town. Shakespeare so used it in Julius Caesar (3:1): “Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the dogs of war.” By the 19th century the phrase had acquired its present meaning.

havoc

see: