Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

cry havoc

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.47 in modern English

Syllables: cry hav-oc
IPA

21

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To shout out 'Havoc!'; that is, to give an army the order to plunder.

Obsolete

Example Sentences

"Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war"
"Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt"
"War and mortality cry havoc, yet the center holds. That center is the affirmation that actions of body and heroic spirit are in themselves a thing of beauty, that renown shall outweigh the passing terrors of death, and that no catastrophe, not even the fall of Troy, is final."

Etymology

From Middle English, from the Anglo-Norman phrase crier havok (“cry havoc”) (a signal to soldiers to seize plunder), from Old French crier (“cry out, shout”) + havot (“pillaging, looting”).

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: -, crier

Usage

Obsolete

Inflected Forms

cries havoc (present, singular) crying havoc (participle, present) cried havoc (participle, past) cried havoc (past)

Questions

What does cry havoc mean?: To shout out 'Havoc!'; that is, to give an army the order to plunder.
Where does cry havoc come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce cry havoc

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