hue and cry
noun
Early English Law. the pursuit of a felon or an offender with loud outcries or clamor to give an alarm.
any public clamor, protest, or alarm: a general hue and cry against the war.
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Words nearby hue and cry
hudson's bay company, hudson, henry, hudsonian godwit, hudud, hue, hue and cry, huebnerite, hued, huelva, huemul, huerta
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Example sentences from the Web for hue and cry
British Dictionary definitions for hue and cry
hue and cry
noun
(formerly) the pursuit of a suspected criminal with loud cries in order to raise the alarm
any loud public outcry
Word Origin for hue and cry
C16: from Anglo-French hu et cri, from Old French hue outcry, from huer to shout, from hu! shout of warning + cri cry
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for hue and cry
hue and cry
Any loud clamor or protest intended to incite others to action: “In the 1980s, there was a great hue and cry for educational reform.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with hue and cry
hue and cry
A public clamor, as of protest or demand. For example, The reformers raised a hue and cry about political corruption. This redundant expression (hue and cry both mean “an outcry”), dating from the 1200s, originally meant “an outcry calling for the pursuit of a criminal.” By the mid-1500s it was also being used more broadly, as in the example.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.