Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Hurly-burly.

 Hurlo-Thrumbo.Hurrah’, 
CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
 
Hurly-burly.
 
Uproar, tumult, especially of battle. A reduplication of hurly. Hurlu-berlu is the French equivalent, evidently connected with hurler, to howl or yell. (See HULLABALOO.)   1
   In the Garden of Eloquence (1577) the word is given as a specimen of onom’atopœ’ia.   2
       
“When the hurly-burly’s done,
When the battle’s lost and won.”
       
The Witches, in Macbeth i. 1.
 


 Hurlo-Thrumbo.Hurrah’, 

 
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