/ˈhævək/, /ˈhævək/, /ˈhævɪk/
OriginFrom Middle English havok, havyk, from Old French havok in the phrase crier havok (“cry havoc”) a signal to soldiers to seize plunder, from Old French crier (“cry out, shout”) + havot (“pillaging, looting”), of obscure origin. Probably from a derivative of Old French *haf, hef (“hook”), from Frankish *haf, *habbjā, *happjā (“pruning-hook, scythe”), derived from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to take up, lift”), related to Old French havee (“handful”), Old French havet (“pruning-hook”), Old High German habba, heppa (“pruning-hook, scythe”), modern German Hippe (“billhook”). If so, then also related to English heave and doublet of hatchet.
- uncountable, usuallyWidespread devastation and destruction.
“I [Paul the Apostle] vvas going to Damaſcus vvith Letters from the High Prieſt to make Havock of God's People there, as I had made Havock of them in other places. Theſe bloody Letters vvas not impoſed”
“Ye Gods, what Havock does Ambition make / Among your Works!”
“But when I had come to that part of the city which I judged to have contained the relics I sought I found havoc that had been wrought there even greater than elsewhere.”
- uncountable, usuallyMayhem.
- To pillage.
“To tear and havoc more than she can eat.”
- To cause havoc.
- A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.
“Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt / With modest warrant.”
“Cry "havoc", and let slip the dogs of war!”
Formshavocs(plural) · havok(alternative, obsolete) · havock(alternative, obsolete) · hauocke(alternative, obsolete) · havocs(present, singular, third-person) · havocking(participle, present) · havocked(participle, past) · havocked(past)