alarums and excursions
Americanplural noun
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(especially in Elizabethan drama) military action, as representative fragments of a battle, sound effects of trumpets, or clash of arms: used as a stage direction.
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any noisy, frantic, or disorganized activity.
Etymology
Origin of alarums and excursions
First recorded in 1585–95
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After the alarums and excursions of the past, the remarkable thing is that Boyd and his team have accomplished all this with that rarest thing in theatreworld – a minimum of drama.
From The Guardian • Nov. 16, 2012
Performances of La Traviata and Manon in Tokyo and Yokohama were enthusiastically received despite some alarums and excursions involving understudies, and understudies of understudies.
From The Guardian • Oct. 1, 2010
I don't know about you but my favourite stage direction has always been "alarums and excursions".
From BBC • May 14, 2010
A cast of 23 skilled dancers, 40 musicians onstage, 40 more in the pit, two choruses, assorted soloists, the best in lights, costumes, alarums and excursions that money could buy.
From Time Magazine Archive
But the battles of the stage were still fought on; "alarums and excursions" continued to engage the scene.
From A Book of the Play Studies and Illustrations of Histrionic Story, Life, and Character by Cook, Dutton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
