Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A loud noise or a condition of noisy confusion. synonym: noise.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Uproar; racket; noisy confusion.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun colloq. A confused noise; uproar; tumult.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An uproar or fuss.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun disturbance usually in protest

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of obsolete hollo-ballo, probably from holla, hello; see hello.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

The Oxford English Dictionary has this as a native English word, first appearing in print in 1762 (Smollett). The OED and other etymologists do not consider the possibility that the word was introduced from India into the English language. The term 'Hullabol' is still used in Indian English to describe a type of public demonstration, involving making a great noise. 'Hulla' is either derived from 'Hamla' meaning 'attack' or from 'halhala' meaning 'ululation' (both words from Persian and then Urdu). 'Bol' is from the Hindi verb 'bolna', 'to utter or say'.

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