rumpus

American  

[ruhm-puhs] / ˈrʌm pəs /

noun

rumpuses plural

1. a noisy or violent disturbance; commotion; uproar.

   There was a terrible rumpus going on upstairs.

2. a heated controversy.

   a rumpus over the school-bond issue.

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rumpus British  

/ ˈrʌmpəs /

noun

1. a noisy, confused, or disruptive commotion

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• rumpuses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of rumpus

First recorded in 1755–65; origin uncertain

Explanation

A rumpus is an uproar or a commotion. Setting a litter of excited puppies loose in a kindergarten classroom would be sure to cause a rumpus. While a rumpus can be loud and boisterous, like the rumpus underneath a piñata in the midst of a huge birthday party, others take the form of heated arguments. This kind of rumpus might occur during a political scandal, for example. Experts guess that the informal rumpus might come from the now-obsolete word robustious, which means "boisterous or noisy." In the mid-twentieth century, children's playrooms began to be called "rumpus rooms."

Example Sentences

“I was the only actor that didn’t audition in the first ‘Rocky,’” he said in a 2017 interview with The Rumpus, a culture website.

From New York Times • Oct. 18, 2023

Because the case was dismissed in the settlement, Elliott’s accuser’s identity hasn’t been revealed, but Elliott believes it was a woman he fired from the Rumpus, a literary journal he founded.

From Washington Post • Mar. 7, 2023

“The institution subtly and insidiously works on you in such a way that though you seem to have freedom you become a servant,” he told the online publication The Rumpus in 2010.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 29, 2022

I wrote about that for The Rumpus, and then I decided to go on the academic job market.

From Salon • Mar. 23, 2022

Well, yes," admitted Gap Johnson, of Rumpus Ridge, Ark., "I've heerd something or nuther about setting the clock for'ards or bac'ards for some reason.

From More Toasts by Mosher, Marion Dix