rabble-rousing, a. and n.
(ˈræb(ə)lraʊzɪŋ)
[f. rabble n.1 + rousing ppl. a. and vbl. n.1]
A. adj. Tending to arouse the emotions of a rabble or disorderly crowd, esp. for political ends; demagogic, inflammatory, excitatory.
| 1802 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 10/2 Vulgar violence and the eternal repetition of rabble-rousing words. 1933 Sun (Baltimore) 8 Aug. 8/2 They are as old as rabble-rousing nationalism itself. 1951 T. Sterling House without Door xi. 126 Mouthing the rabble-rousing opinions of Communist filth. 1969 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 30 Jan. 12/4 Convinced that this was a rabble-rousing exaggeration, Booth set out to compile his own statistics. 1976 Eastern Even. News (Norwich) 9 Dec. 2/1 Mussolini made a rabble-rousing appearance in Milan after the Allies had landed in the south. |
B. n. The act or process of arousing the emotions of a crowd; demagoguery, trouble-stirring.
| 1933 Sun (Baltimore) 18 Sept. 8/2 It is not necessary to pay a great deal of attention to this form of economic rabble rousing. 1962 D. H. Laurence in G. B. Shaw Platform & Pulpit p. xii, He was not concerned with rabble-rousing or spell-binding. 1974 A. Ross Bradford Business 9 Heated rabble-rousing in our seats of learning. |
Hence (as a back-formation) ˈrabble-rouse v. intr., to arouse the emotions of a crowd by a demagogical harangue.
| 1959 Time 15 June 36/3 He rabble-rouses more fluently in English than in Chinese. 1971 Guardian 1 July 11/6 Did he [sc. Oswald Mosley] make speeches in such a way as to rabble-rouse? |