Etymology Likely an altered reduplication of hurling (“a tumult”). Compare Swedish huller om buller.
1
Idiomatic A noisy and disorderly tumult and confusion, especially as of battle.
...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:
1 more example
Why is it that civilized humanity / Can make the world so wrong? / In this hurly-burly of insanity / Our dreams cannot last longc. 1933, “Twentieth-Century Blues”, performed by Noël Coward:
hurlyburly
adj
Etymology Likely an altered reduplication of hurling (“a tumult”). Compare Swedish huller om buller.
"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: