hue and cry

American  

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.

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hue and cry British  

noun

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

2. any loud public outcry

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hue and cry Cultural  

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.”

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hue and cry Idioms  

1. 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.

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Etymology

Origin of hue and cry

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

Example Sentences

A disagreement between a mother and daughter over the colour of a dress for a wedding generates 20m tweets Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hue and cry: the colour-changing dress.

From The Guardian • Dec. 20, 2015

Hue and cry was raised,40 and a personal description of the leaders for their better identification was scattered throughout the country.

From London and the Kingdom - Volume II by Sharpe, Reginald R. (Reginald Robinson)

Hue and cry was raised for me; and finally I was found covered with cream and confusion amongst the m�ringues.

From Forty Years of 'Spy' by Ward, Leslie

Hue and cry for the fugitive, James Device, ought also to be made throughout the forest.

From The Lancashire Witches A Romance of Pendle Forest by Ainsworth, William Harrison

Hue and cry was forthwith made for Stephen, but he was not to be found.

From The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's A School Story by Reed, Talbot Baines

Related Words

• brouhaha
• outcry
• uproar