émeute

See also: emeute and êmeute

English

Alternative forms

• emeute

Etymology

Borrowed from French.

Noun

émeute (plural émeutes)

1. (archaic) A seditious tumult; an outbreak.
   • 1834: George Browning, The Domestic and Financial Condition of Great Britain

     At court, all was uncertainty and gloom ; plots, intrigues, and conspiracies, were the ordinary topics of popular discussion ; and the outburst of some diabolical emeute to subvert the throne, was awaited with anxious apprehension.

   • 1841: Frederic Tolfrey, The Sportsman in France

     Certain rumours of an emeute in Paris had reached the quiet little village of Arques towards the end of July, and on the 28th of the month the report was confirmed by the outbreak of the Revolution.

   • 1879, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, The Pirates of Penzance  […], Philadelphia: J.M. Stoddart & Co., published 1880, →OCLC:

     For when threatened with emeutes,
     Tarantara! Tarantara!
     And your heart is in your boots,
     Tarantara!
     There is nothing brings it round,
     Like the trumpet's martial sound,
     Tarantara! Tarantara! Tarantara!

French

Etymology

From the old past participle of émouvoir (“to move emotionally”), influenced by meute (“pack (of hounds)”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.møt/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

émeute f (plural émeutes)

1. riot
2. (figuratively) chaos, disorder

Related terms

• émeutier

Further reading

• “émeute”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.