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.

Related Words

• brouhaha
• outcry
• uproar