Rumpus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A loud disturbance, noisy commotion, or disruptive quarrel that creates confusion and disorder
2. A noisy and disorderly situation marked by loud and chaotic activity
3. An uproar involving loud sounds and active disruption causing turmoil

Etymology: The word first appears in print around 1745, and its origin is genuinely obscure. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as perhaps an arbitrary formation, meaning someone simply made it up rather than building it from a traceable older word. The most likely candidate for its parent is "rumbustious" or "rumbustical," both older English words meaning boisterous or noisy. If so, the Latin-looking ending "-us" would have been tacked on to give the new word a learned, pseudo-Latin air, the kind of polish eighteenth-century writers often gave to colloquial terms. This is a plausible explanation rather than a settled fact, and no one has confirmed the exact route. The verb form, "to rumpus," appears only later, around 1839, showing that the noun was in use for nearly a century before anyone turned it into a verb.

Synonyms: commotion, uproar, disturbance, tumult, hubbub

Antonyms: calm, peace, quiet, serenity, tranquility