Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A public clamor, as of protest or demand.
- noun The pursuit of a felon announced with loud shouts to alert others who were then legally obliged to give chase.
- noun The loud outcry formerly used in such a pursuit.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun historical The
public pursuit of afelon ; accompanied byshouts to warn others togive chase . - noun by extension A
loud andpersistent publicclamour ; especially one ofprotest or making somedemand .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun loud and persistent outcry from many people
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English hew and cri, partial translation of Anglo-Norman hu e cri : hu, outcry, clamor (from Old French huer, to shout, of imitative origin) + e, and + cri, cry (from Old French crier, to cry; see cry).]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From the Anglo-Norman legal phrase hu e cri.
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Examples
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treeseed commented on the word hue and cry
Merriam_Webster Dictionary:
noun
Etymology: hue outcry
Date: 15th century
1 a: a loud outcry formerly used in the pursuit of one who is suspected of a crime b: the pursuit of a suspect or a written proclamation for the capture of a suspect
2: a clamor of alarm or protest
See also hue
January 28, 2008
gangerh commented on the word hue and cry
Also the name of a Scottish duo who among other songs had the haunting love song with the chorus
Violently
You came to me
Said I could be a different man, a different man
Violently
Your words hit me
And I broke gently into your hands
Wow!
January 28, 2008
isoglossian commented on the word hue and cry
Recently it has featured in M-W's Word of the Day, see here
May 16, 2009