havoc
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- havock (e.g. in Milton)
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Anglo-Norman havok in the phrase crier havok (“cry havoc”) a signal to soldiers to seize plunder, from Old French crier (“cry out, shout”) + havot (“pillaging, looting”).
Noun[edit]
havoc (usually uncountable, plural havocs)
- widespread devastation, destruction
- Bible, Acts viii. 3
- As for Saul, he made havoc of the church.
- Addison
- Ye gods, what havoc does ambition make / Among your works!
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1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The People that Time Forgot[1], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:
- But when I had come to that part of the city which I judged to have contained the relics I sought I found havoc that had been wrought there even greater than elsewhere.
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- Bible, Acts viii. 3
- mayhem
Usage notes[edit]
The noun havoc is most often used in the set phrase wreak havoc.[1]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
devastation
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mayhem
Verb[edit]
havoc (third-person singular simple present havocs, present participle havocking, simple past and past participle havocked)
- To pillage.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act I, Scene II:
- To tear and havoc more than she can eat.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act I, Scene II:
- To cause havoc.
Usage notes[edit]
As with other verbs ending in vowel + -c, The gerund-participle is sometimes spelled havocing, and the preterite and past participle is sometimes spelled havoced; for citations using these spellings, see their respective entries. However, the spellings havocking and havocked are far more common. Compare panic, picnic.
References[edit]
- ^ Old Hungarian Goulash?, The Grammarphobia Blog, October 31, 2008
Interjection[edit]
havoc
- A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.
- Toone
- Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt / With modest warrant.
- Shakespeare
- Cry "havoc", and let slip the dogs of war!
- Toone
