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rumpus

noun

Etymology

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.

  1. derived from -us

Definitions

  1. A noisy, sometimes violent disturbance

    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."
    • But as his rumpus with Mr. Christie entered its second and third rounds, Mr. Rubio appeared to abandon that game plan.
    • 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!

  2. A rumpus room.

  3. 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.
    • ... and Marie routed up Mammy nights, and rumpussed and scolded, with more energy than ever, all day, on the strength of this new misery.
    • 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.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for rumpus. 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