to work havoc: The fire havocked throughout the house.
—Idioms
4.
cry havoc, to warn of danger or disaster.
5.
play havoc with,
a.
to create confusion or disorder in: The wind played havoc with the papers on the desk.
b.
to destroy; ruin: The bad weather played havoc with our vacation plans.
Origin: 1400–50; late ME havok < AF (in phrase crier havok to cry havoc, i.e., utter the command havoc! as signal for pillaging), MF havot in same sense < Gmc
1419, from Anglo-Fr. havok in phrase crier havok "cry havoc" (1385), a signal to soldiers to seize plunder, from O.Fr. havot "plundering, devastation" (fr. avoir), from a Gmc. source (see hawk (n.)), or from L. habere "to have, possess." General sense of "devastation" first recorded c.1480.