havoc
nounEtymology
From Middle English havok, havyk, from Old French havok in the phrase crier havok (“cry havoc”) a signal to soldiers to seize plunder, from Old French crier (“cry out, shout”) + havot (“pillaging, looting”), of obscure origin. Probably from a derivative of Old French *haf, hef (“hook”), from Frankish *haf, *habbjā, *happjā (“pruning-hook, scythe”), derived from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to take up, lift”), related to Old French havee (“handful”), Old French havet (“pruning-hook”), Old High German habba, heppa (“pruning-hook, scythe”), modern German Hippe (“billhook”). If so, then also related to English heave and doublet of hatchet.
Definitions
Widespread devastation and destruction.
- Ye Gods, what Havock does Ambition make / Among your Works!
- But when I had come to that part of the city which I judged to have contained the relics I sought I found havoc that had been wrought there even greater than elsewhere.
Mayhem.
To pillage.
- To tear and havoc more than she can eat.
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To cause havoc.
A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.
- Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt / With modest warrant.
- Cry "havoc", and let slip the dogs of war!
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for havoc. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA