ruckus orig. and chiefly U.S.
(ˈrʌkəs)
Also rucas, ruccus, rucus, rukus.
[cf. ruction and rumpus n.]
An uproar, a disturbance; a row, a quarrel; fuss, commotion. Also attrib.
The earliest examples, spelt with a single c or k, may possibly represent the variant usually spelt rookus.
| 1890 Dialect Notes I. 66 Rucus (rŭk{uda}s): for rumpus. [Kentucky.] 1902 Ibid. II. 244 Rukus. 1909 ‘O. Henry’ Roads of Destiny xiii. 210 There shall be rucuses in Salvador..and the monkeys had better climb the tallest cocoanut trees. 1923 C. E. Mulford Black Buttes ii. 20 Them two bummers [sc. restless cattle] was raisin' more of a ruckus than usual to-night. 1934 Sun (Baltimore) 17 May 10/1 The ruccus in the City Hall over discharge of a municipal employé by the Mayor. 1948 F. Blake Johnny Christmas ii. 69 With this Kiowa–'Rapaho ruckus and these picture-book soldiers that just showed up, we don't want anything more on our hands. 1963 Economist 12 Oct. 147/2 The ruckus kicked up by the outraged wives and mothers of America. 1972 Time 10 July 38/1 But then ruckus raising is Fischer's speciality. 1977 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 July 792/1 World Team Tennis..now actively encourages..‘audience participation’, a polite phrase that covers barracking, beer-cans, and the kind of ruckus that England normally only sees after a Cup Final. 1979 Dædalus Spring 162 Like the graeculi of the Roman Empire, we Europeans are still capable of raising a little cultural ruckus. |