hubbub means A confused sound of a crowd of people shouting or speaking simultaneously; an uproar.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, hubbub ranks #2,374 of 14,451 for Most Whimsical Words, #2,498 of 14,340 for Most Vivid Words, #2,517 of 14,440 for Most Satisfying to Say, #4,950 of 14,308 for Most Malleable Words.
hubbub is pronounced /ˈhʌbʌb/.
Why “hubbub” is a great word
A loud, confused noise, especially of many voices; a din or uproar. Likely of Irish origin, perhaps from Irish interjections like *ababú* or *abú* (used as a battle cry), or related to Scottish Gaelic *ub ub* (an interjection of contempt); first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Unlike *hullabaloo*, which implies a noisy excitement over a specific controversy, or *bustle*, which suggests lively, purposeful movement, hubbub is the dense, ambient chaos of human presence itself. It is the undifferentiated roar of a market square, the layered murmur of a tavern where no single conversation can be retrieved, and the low thunder of a crowd before the first pint is drawn—sound as a thick, humming texture, the indifferent noise of a world too busy to care for any single voice within it.
Etymology
In early use, the noun is often mentioned as a cry by Irish people, and so is possibly borrowed from Irish; compare Irish ababú, abú (“used as a battle cry”), and Scottish Gaelic ub, ub, ubub (“used to express contempt, etc.”), ubh ubh (“used to express disgust”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
noun
- A confused sound of a crowd of people shouting or speaking simultaneously; an uproar.“They heard a noyſe of many bagpipes ſhrill, / And ſhrieking Hububs them approching nere, / VVhich all the foreſt did vvith horrour fill: […]”
- Noisy confusion; commotion, uproar; (countable) an instance of this; an ado, a commotion.“The vvindovves clattring / And all the Chambermaides in ſuch a vvhobub, / One vvith her ſmocke halfe off, another in haſt / VVith a ſervingmans hoſe upon her head.”
- A sound of people making a battle cry or war cry.
- Synonym of bowl game (“a Native American game of chance involving the throwing of colored nuts from a bowl, comparable to dice”).“They have tvvo ſorts of games, one called Puim, the other Hubbub, not much unlike Cards and Dice, being no other than Lotterie. […] Hubbub is five ſmall Bones in a ſmall ſmooth Tray, the bones bee like a Die, but ſomething flatter, blacke on one ſide and vvhite on the other, vvhich they place on the ground, againſt vvhich violently thumping the platter, the bones mount changing colours vvith the v”
verb
- To make a confused sound of a crowd of people shouting or speaking simultaneously; to cause a racket or tumult.“Then, what wretched writing?—"Poured upon the plain,"—"scatter o'er the fields,"—"whitens all the skies,"—"brighten all the fields,"—"flame the skies,"—and "laugh the fields," all huddled and hubbubbed together into one chaotic sentence.”
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