hue and cry

noun

1. Early English Law. the pursuit of a felon or an offender with loud outcries or clamor to give an alarm.
2. any public clamor, protest, or alarm:

   a general hue and cry against the war.

hue and cry

noun

1. (formerly) the pursuit of a suspected criminal with loud cries in order to raise the alarm
2. any loud public outcry

hue and cry

1. Any loud clamor or protest intended to incite others to action: “In the 1980s, there was a great hue and cry for educational reform.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of hue and cry¹

1250–1300; Middle English, translation of Anglo-French hu et cri. See hue ², cry

Word History and Origins

Origin of hue and cry¹

C16: from Anglo-French hu et cri, from Old French hue outcry, from huer to shout, from hu! shout of warning + cri cry

Idioms and Phrases

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.

Example Sentences

The success of Smoke was immediate and great; but the hue-and-cry that assailed it was even greater.

From Project Gutenberg

In an hour there will be the hue-and-cry, and then they will surely search your house.

From Project Gutenberg

The hue-and-cry alarms the county, but it preserves all the property of the province.

From Project Gutenberg

The hue-and-cry was immediately raised; but the guilty person was nowhere to be seen.

From Project Gutenberg

To move it far might imperil Joe Hawkridge and Bonnet's two seamen should they come in haste with a hue-and-cry behind them.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• brouhaha
• outcry
• uproar