hue and cry

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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.

Origin of hue and cry

1250–1300; Middle English, translation of Anglo-French hu et cri. See hue², cry

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for hue and cry

uproar, outcry, brouhaha, hullabaloo, protest

Examples from the Web for hue and cry

Historical Examples of hue and cry

But for him, Mark, your name would have figured in the 'Hue-and-Cry.'
The O'Donoghue
Charles James Lever
But the landlord soon raised the hue-and-cry, 'A man has been killed!'
The Life of Cicero
Anthony Trollope
But the old gentleman was not the only person who raised the hue-and-cry.
Oliver Twist, Vol. I (of 3)
Charles Dickens
A hue-and-cry was set up, and the country round was searched.
Freaks of Fanaticism
Sabine Baring-Gould
In an hour there will be the hue-and-cry, and then they will surely search your house.
Lochinvar
S. R. Crockett

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

hue and cry in Culture

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.”

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.