charivari
English
![](Images/wiktionary/Punch_volume_1_cover_(1841).png.webp)
The cover of the first issue (1841) of the British satirical magazine Punch, or the London Charivari
Alternative forms
- shivaree, chivari, chivaree (American)
Etymology
From French charivari.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʃɑːɹɪˈvɑːɹi/
- Rhymes: -ɑːɹi
Noun
charivari (countable and uncountable, plural charivaris)
- The noisy banging of pots and pans as a mock serenade to a newly married couple, or similar occasion.
- 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 94:
- The marriage ceremony was given primordial significance over folkloric pre-marriage engagement rituals and wild charivaris.
- 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 94:
- (by extension) Any loud, cacophonous noise or hubbub.
Synonyms
- rough music
- skimmington
- skimmity
- skimmity-ride
Related terms
- shivaree
Translations
mock serenade
|
cacaphonous noise, hubbub — see cacophony
Further reading
charivari on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
French
FWOTD – 12 September 2020
Etymology
From Old French chalivali (“noise from pots and pans”), from Late Latin caribaria, from carivaria, from Ancient Greek καρηβάρεια (karēbáreia, “headache”), from κάρη (kárē, “head”) and βαρύς (barús, “heavy”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʃa.ʁi.va.ʁi/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -i
Noun
charivari m (plural charivaris)
- (historical) charivari, shivaree (mock serenade of discordant noise, notably to heckle a publicly reviled figure)
- (by extension) racket, banging in general, rumpus
- Synonym: chahut
- 1893, Émile Zola, “Le public”, in Édouard Manet, étude biographique et critique, page 365:
- Mettez dix personnes d’intelligence suffisante devant un tableau d’aspect neuf et original, et ces personnes, à elles dix, ne feront plus qu’un grand enfant ; elles se pousseront du coude, elles commenteront l’œuvre de la façon la plus comique du monde. Les badauds arriveront à la file, grossissant le groupe ; bientôt ce sera un véritable charivari, un accès de folie bête.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
Descendants
- → Catalan: xivarri
- → English: charivari, shivaree, chivaree, chivari
- → German: Charivari
Further reading
- “charivari”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.