charivari
Americannoun
noun
-
a discordant mock serenade to newlyweds, made with pans, kettles, etc
-
a confused noise; din
Etymology
Origin of charivari
< French, Middle French, of obscure origin; said to be < Late Latin carībaria headache < Greek karēbaría, equivalent to karē-, combining form of kárā, kárē head + -baria ( bar ( ys ) heavy + -ia -ia ), on the hypothesis that such a noisy procession would cause a headache
Vocabulary lists containing charivari
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.
I learned about charivari, a folk custom in France in which people mock-serenaded weddings they disapproved of, adding to the proceedings “the stench of a donkey carcass being burned.”
From Slate • Jul. 13, 2020
Young people also expressed their opinion of the moral conduct of elders, in traditions known as charivari or "rough music".
From BBC • Mar. 23, 2014
It is what the charivari of outraged Usenet denizens did to Portal and Internet Direct as vengeance, swamping the servers with furious mail and big, capacity-consuming image files.
From Scientific American • Jun. 20, 2013
Last week at Carmel, Calif., "Provincetown of the Pacific Coast," there was an intellectual charivari.
From Time Magazine Archive
Dan was full of a wild idea that we should all meet them at the gate, armed with cowbells and tin-pans, and "charivari" them up the lane.
From The Golden Road by Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud)
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.
