Word of the Day:

“Bedazzled by the lucrative allures of STEM and the popularity of business degrees, universities have been defunding their humanities programs and transforming themselves into vocational training centers with five-star gyms. … The hue and cry over this benighted movement, in which institutions of higher learning are turning their backs on their fundamental mission, will likely not be enough to stop the forces operating under the cover of budgetary necessity.” — Charles McNulty, The Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2023

More example sentences

Let’s say it’s the Middle Ages in England and a villainous highwayman has just made off with your purse of gold. What do you do? You can’t call the police, because in medieval England there is no organized police force, much less telephones; indeed, 911 is even less than a joke in your town—it doesn’t exist! Instead, the job of fighting crime belongs to ordinary citizens. The first step is to raise a stink—victims of or witnesses to a crime are expected to yell something like “stop thief!” so that anyone who hears the “hue and cry” will be legally bound to join in the pursuit of the perfidious pilferer. Fast-forwarding to today, although hue and cry (hue comes from an Old French word meaning “noise” or “outcry”; cry comes from the synonymous Anglo-French cri) was used in legal contexts upon entering English in the 15th century, it now more often refers to general alarm, complaint, or protest.