hubbub

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See also: hub-bub

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Mid 16th c. Perhaps from Irish; compare Irish ababú!, abú! (battle-cry), Scottish Gaelic ub! ub! (expressing contempt, etc.), ubh ubh! (expressing disgust).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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hubbub (plural hubbubs)

  1. A confused uproar, commotion, tumult or racket.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:commotion
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. [], London: [] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker []; [a]nd by Robert Boulter []; [a]nd Matthias Walker, [], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: [], London: Basil Montagu Pickering [], 1873, →OCLC:
      At length a universal hubbub wild
      Of stunning sounds and voices all confused,
      Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear
      With loudest vehemence.

Translations

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Verb

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hubbub (third-person singular simple present hubbubs, present participle hubbubing or hubbubbing, simple past and past participle hubbubed or hubbubbed)

  1. (intransitive) To cause a tumult or racket.
    • 2016, Daniel Gray, Saturday, 3pm: 50 Eternal Delights of Modern Football:
      It becomes a grotto, hubbubbing with more noise than any class on a school visit could make, the air mobbed by breathless chatter about life and the transfer window.