uproar meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

uproar

noun

UK /ˈʌpɹɔː/ · US /ˈʌpɹɔːɹ/

Etymology Calque of Dutch oproer or German Aufruhr, as up + roar.

Tumultuous, noisy excitement.

Loud, confused noise, especially when coming from several sources.

A loud protest, controversy, or outrage.

This highly-aggressive approach had results, but briefly caused a major uproar in parts of the United States, which was mitigated by the Webster–Ashburton Treaty in 1842, which formalised the U.S. Navy's contribution to the antislavery efforts.2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 8:56 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2024:

verb

Etymology Calque of Dutch oproer or German Aufruhr, as up + roar.

To throw into uproar or confusion.

[…] had I power, I should Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell, Uproar the universal peace, confound All unity on earth.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 IV, scene iii]:

To make an uproar.

[…] through their Tumultuous Uproaring have they caused the peaceable and harmless to suffer […]1661, William Caton, The Abridgment of Eusebius Pamphilius’s Ecclesiastical History, London: Francis Holden, published 1698, Part II, page 110, note:
[…] the landlady entering at this very time with news that his wife had been delivered of a dead child, he yielded to the most furious ebullitions; while, in accordance with him, all howled and shrieked, and bellowed and uproared, with double vigor.1824, “Chapter 8”, in Thomas Carlyle, transl., Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship and Travels, book 4, New York: A.L. Burt, translation of original by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published 1839, pages 210–211:

2 more examples

When red-mouth’d cannons to the clouds uproar, And gasping hosts sleep shrouded in their gore,1828, Robert Montgomery, The Omnipresence of the Deity, London: Samuel Maunder, Part II, page 56:
Officers, as well as men, now mingle in the uproaring strife, and snatching the weapons of the slain, swell the horrid carnage.1829, Mason Locke Weems, “Chapter 12”, in The Life of General Francis Marion, Philadelphia: Joseph Allen, page 106: