hurlyburly

plural hurlyburlies · alternative hurly-burly

1. countableidiomaticuncountableA noisy and disorderly tumult and confusion, especially as of battle.

   Why is it that civilized humanity / Can make the world so wrong? / In this hurly-burly of insanity / Our dreams cannot last long

   c. 1933, “Twentieth-Century Blues”, performed by Noël Coward

   2 more examples

   ...for nought is ceaſſed and gone already, what an hurlyburly (?) inconvenience ſhoulde followe or it maye be eaſely perceived.

   1550, Steuen Mierdman, The market or fayre of usurers

   1. When ſhall we three meet againe? / In Thunder, Lightning, or in Raine? / 2. When the Hurly-burley's done, / When the Battaile's loſt, and wonne.

   c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 131

comparative more hurlyburly · superlative most hurlyburly · alternative hurly-burly

1. idiomaticFull of disorder or noisy confusion.

   "I understand the circus that it is," Springer says of the hurly-burly mob scene that often overtakes his show.

   1998, Aileen Joyce, Jerry Springer: For The First Time Ever, It All Hangs Out!, page 12