alarms and excursions
alarms and excursions
Frantic activity that causes a clamor. Often seen in Elizabethan drama as a stage direction denoting military activity. What on earth is going on? The alarms and excursions in the living room woke me from a sound sleep—keep it down! It's been nothing but alarms and excursions since the kids got here. That drop in the stock market is sure to set off alarms and excursions in international trading.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
alarms and excursions
confused activity and uproar. humorousAlarm was formerly spelled alarum , representing a pronunciation with a rolling of the ‘r’; the phrase was originally a call summoning soldiers to arms. The whole phrase is used in stage directions in Shakespeare to indicate a battle scene.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017