Hubbub

/ˈhʌbʌb/ · noun

Meaning

(countable) A confused sound of a crowd of people shouting or speaking simultaneously; an uproar..

Definitions by Sense

1. (countable) A confused sound of a crowd of people shouting or speaking simultaneously; an uproar.
2. (by extension, uncountable) Noisy confusion; commotion, uproar; (countable) an instance of this; an ado, a commotion.
3. (countable, obsolete) A sound of people making a battle cry or war cry.
4. (intransitive, rare) To make a confused sound of a crowd of people shouting or speaking simultaneously; to cause a racket or tumult.
5. (US, historical) Synonym of bowl game (“a Native American game of chance involving the throwing of colored nuts from a bowl, comparable to dice”).

Example Sentences

They heard a noyſe of many bagpipes ſhrill, / And ſhrieking Hububs them approching nere, / VVhich all the foreſt did vvith horrour fill: […]

And had not the old-man come in vvith a VVhoo-bub againſt his Daughter, and the Kings Sonne, and ſcar'd my Chovvghes from the Chaffe, I had not left a Purſe aliue in the vvhole Army.

At length a univerſal hubbub vvilde / Of ſtunning ſounds and voices all confus'd, / Born [borne] through the hollovv dark aſſaults his eare / VVith loudeſt vehemence: […]

[T]he mighty Amsterdam, […] its Exchange resounding with the endless hubbub of all the languages spoken by civilised men.

The vvindovves clattring / And all the Chambermaides in ſuch a vvhobub, / One vvith her ſmocke halfe off, another in haſt / VVith a ſervingmans hoſe upon her head.

[page 123] [E]ven as they entred into the fair, all the people in the fair vvere moved, and the Tovvn it ſelf as it vvere in a Hubbub about them; […] [page 127] Then vvere theſe tvvo poor men brought before their Examiners again, and there charged as being guilty of the late Hubbub that had been in the fair.

[T]hey asked the reaſon of the hubbub, and tumult. And vvith that every man began to tell his ovvn tale, ſo that nothing could be heard diſtinctly: […]

A scene of uproar and hubbub ensued that defies description.

Synonyms for hubbub

Antonyms for hubbub

Related Words

Word Forms

• hubbubs
• hub-bub
• whobub
• hubbubbing
• hubbubing
• hubbubbed
• hubbubed

Usage Notes

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