Rumpus

noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A noisy, sometimes violent disturbance; noise and confusion; a noisy quarrel or brawl.

    ""I'd like to know how on earth we are going to finish the case with all this umptydoodle rumpus going on.""

  2. 2
    the act of making a noisy disturbance wordnet
  3. 3
    A rumpus room. Australia, Canada, New-Zealand
Verb
  1. 1
    To cause a noisy disturbance or commotion. informal, intransitive

    "All night, as wide awake as gnats, The terriers rumpused after rats, Or, just for practice, taught their brats, To worry cast-off shoes and hats."

  2. 2
    cause a disturbance wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
commotionruckusruckusadoaffrayagitation

Example

More examples

""I'd like to know how on earth we are going to finish the case with all this umptydoodle rumpus going on.""

Etymology

Unknown. First use appears c. 1745. The OED indicates: "perhaps an arbitrary formation". Possibly an alteration of rumbustical or rumbustious (“boisterous, noisy”) + Latin -us (“nominative suffix”). The use of the verbal form first appears c. 1839.

Related phrases

rumpus room

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.