cry havoc

Idioms  

1. Sound an alarm or warning, as in In his sermon the pastor cried havoc to the congregation's biases against gays. The noun havoc was once a command for invaders to begin looting and killing the defenders' town. Shakespeare so used it in Julius Caesar (3:1): “Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the dogs of war.” By the 19th century the phrase had acquired its present meaning.

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Example Sentences

They must have known those they had abandoned would cry havoc.

From New York Times • Apr. 21, 2021

Witness Claiborne Deming, Murphy's CEO, who doesn't see the science of global warming as solid enough yet to cry havoc.

From Time Magazine Archive

Pittsfield, Mass, was the first to cry havoc.

From Time Magazine Archive

District attorneys across the country are beginning to cry havoc: it just does not seem right for Perry & Co. never to lose a case.

From Time Magazine Archive

Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt With modest warrant.

From Coriolanus by Shakespeare, William