Shindy

Word of the Day for Saturday, January 19, 2013

Shindy \SHIN-dee\, noun:

1. A row; rumpus.
2. A shindig.

"If the thing goes wrong," said a man by my side, "we shall see a shindy."
-- Maurice Leblanc, The Three Eyes

"Say," he said, "there's an awful shindy in the house. The dressmaker is pitching into papa for all she is worth, and there are some other folks, but she's goin' it loudest; but they are all going it! Cracky! Hear 'em!"
-- Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, The Debtor

Shindy is a peculiar Americanism that arose in the 1810s. It referred originally to shinny, a now-obsolete game resembling field hockey. The word came to be applied not just to sport but also to raucous events.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com