k]
noun, verb, -ocked, -ock⋅ing.| 1. | great destruction or devastation; ruinous damage. |
| 2. | to work havoc upon; devastate. |
| 3. | to work havoc: The fire havocked throughout the house. |
| 4. | cry havoc, to warn of danger or disaster. |
| 5. | play havoc with,
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cry havoc
Sound an alarm or warning, as in In his sermon the pastor cried havoc to the congregation's biases against gays. The noun havoc was once a command for invaders to begin looting and killing the defenders' town. Shakespeare so used it in Julius Caesar (3:1): "Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the dogs of war." By the 19th century the phrase had acquired its present meaning.