grabuge

French

Etymology

From 1526, as gaburge (“dispute, fight”). Unknown, but perhaps from Venetan garbugio (“fight, skirmish”), probably a deverbal from garbugliare (“to disturb, confuse”), from bugliare (“to agitate”), from northern dialect boglire (“to heat up, boil”). Cognate with Italian garbuglio (“tumult, mess”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡʁa.byʒ/

Noun

grabuge m (plural grabuges) (informal)

  1. scrap, ruckus; mayhem
  2. quarrel (discussion that turns violent)
    • 1857, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary […]‎[1], Paris: Michel Lévy Frères; republished as Eleanor Marx, transl., Madame Bovary, 1886:
      — Décidément, pensa Lheureux, il y a du grabuge là-dessous.
      “Decidedly,” thought Lheureux, “there’s a row on here.”
    • 2019, Alain Damasio, chapter 2, in Les furtifs [The Stealthies], La Volte, →ISBN:
      Il m’a dit que Sahar était encore sur la place, mais à l’abri, que le grabuge se tassait, qu’elle n’était pas blessée.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

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