havoc

Formshavocs, havocking, havocked

1. 1
   great damagenoununcountable

   Destruction and devastation on a wide scale.

   The hurricane wreaked havoc along the coast, flattening homes and uprooting trees.

   Locusts brought havoc to the region's farms, stripping whole fields bare within days.

   Similardevastation, destruction, ruin, damage

   Note

   The noun grew out of a battle cry: Old French crier havok, "cry havoc", was the signal for soldiers to seize plunder, from havot, "looting", a word of obscure origin. Older writers make havoc of people or places, as Bunyan's Paul does of God's people; today havoc is more often wreaked or caused, and it rarely takes a plural.

2. 2
   chaosnoununcountable

   Chaotic, often violent disorder and confusion.

   Two loose goats caused havoc at the wedding, knocking over chairs and chasing guests.

   The power outage created havoc at the airport, with angry crowds jammed at every gate.

   Similarchaos, mayhem, disorder, pandemonium, confusion

   Oppositeorder, calm

3. 3
   raid and lootverbtransitive

   To plunder a place, robbing it by force.

   The raiders havocked every farm along the river and drove off the cattle.

   Bandits would havoc the border towns whenever the garrison marched away.

   Similarplunder, pillage, ravage, sack, loot

   Note

   The verb stays closest to the word's roots in looting: to havoc is to plunder, and Shakespeare's Henry V has the line "To tear and havoc more than she can eat". Like panic and picnic, it adds a k before an ending, so the forms are havocked and havocking.

4. 4
   battle cryinterjection

   Shouted in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter, usually in the phrase cry havoc.

   The general raised his sword and cried "Havoc!" as his troops poured through the gate.

   When the walls fell, a voice cried havoc, and the slaughter began.

   Note

   The cry began as a signal to plunder: Old French crier havok told soldiers to seize the spoils. In Shakespeare it already unleashes killing, and his lines are where most readers meet it. Mark Antony's "Cry 'havoc', and let slip the dogs of war!" in Julius Caesar is the famous one; Coriolanus carries a warning against crying havoc where you should but hunt "with modest warrant".

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