the.com/hubbub
The sound a room makes when everyone's talking and no one's listening.
means A noisy commotion made up of overlapping voices and confused activity.
from Likely of Irish Gaelic origin, possibly from a shouted battle or alarm cry — some trace it to 'hooboub' or similar exclamations used in Irish warfare and resistance. It entered English in the 1500s as a word for uproar and tumult, and its own stuttering, doubled sound has always mimicked the chaos it describes.
- origin
- possibly from Irish battle cry ubub
- peak era
- popular in 1500s England
- onomatopoeia cousin
- related to hullabaloo and rumpus