Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A commotion; an uproar.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The game of shinny, hockey, or bandy-ball.
  • noun A row, disturbance, or rumpus: as, to kick up a shindy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Slang An uproar or disturbance; a spree; a row; a riot.
  • noun Hockey; shinney.
  • noun Local, U. S. A fancy or liking.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A shindig.
  • noun slang An uproar or disturbance; a spree; a row; a riot.
  • noun hockey; shinney
  • noun US, dialect, dated A fancy or liking.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a large and noisy party of people

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps alteration of shinny.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Uncertain; compare shinney, shinty.

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Examples

  • Would an American use the word shindy, which was London street slang for fight or row?

    Portrait of a Killer Cornwell, Patricia 1930

  • But to tell the truth, I wouldn't miss what we used to call the shindy, and these boys of yours term the 'scrap' for a pile of Kruger sovereigns.

    The Dop Doctor Richard Dehan 1897

  • On the one hand, it is incredible that thousands of persons were out of their beds at ten minutes to nine A.M.; on the other, if they had sat up all night in the hope of a fight with the police they would most certainly have anticipated that diversion by a preliminary "shindy" among themselves, and have broken up in disorder.

    Disturbed Ireland Being the Letters Written During the Winter of 1880-81. Bernard H. Becker

  • Besides, being an Irish boy, he dearly loved a "shindy," and Winnipeg's wide streets provided ample room in which to dodge a too powerful enemy.

    Irish Ned The Winnipeg Newsy Samuel Fea 1907

  • But as for kicking up the particular kind of shindy that the Suffragettes are kicking up, I would as soon do it for my shallowest opinion as for my deepest one.

    All Things Considered 1905

  • It may, in all truth, be a "shindy," thought he, but it had led a gallant life.

    Green Fancy George Barr McCutcheon 1897

  • This was true on the present occasion, when at different times the pack-beasts went on a "shindy" that upset all calculations and scattered packs far and wide, causing a general alarm and hard work on the part of all hands to restore quietness and order.

    American Boy's Life of Theodore Roosevelt Edward Stratemeyer 1896

  • Their comrade had stolen off and was already in a "shindy" at the rear of the store.

    The Launch Boys' Adventures in Northern Waters Edward Sylvester Ellis 1878

  • The poultry dealer asserted that although friend Lebigre hadn't the stuff of an orator in him, they might safely reckon on him when the "shindy" came.

    The Fat and the Thin ��mile Zola 1871

  • "wich is down 'Endon wy," is no longer a spree for him, however uproarious the "shindy," and however ready his "gal" may be to sit on his knee and "change 'ats" to the accompaniment of cornet and concertina.

    The History of "Punch" M. H. Spielmann

Comments

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  • "Don't I always say that to be good, a whale-steak must be tough? There are those sharks now over the side, don't you see they prefer it tough and rare? What a shindy they are kicking up!"

    - Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 64

    July 26, 2008

  • From "A Field of Snow on a Slope of the Rosenberg" by Guy Davenport.

    January 19, 2010