donnybrook

play

noun, often capitalized don·ny·brook \ ˈdä-nē-ˌbru̇k \

Definition of donnybrook

1 :free-for-all, brawl

2 :a usually public quarrel or dispute

See donnybrook defined for English-language learners

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Examples of donnybrook in a Sentence

A donnybrook has erupted over the court's decision.
a dozen people were arrested after the donnybrook at the stadium

Recent Examples of donnybrook from the Web

Here are a few mental snapshots: ‣ A man, naked to the waist, with a gash on his shoulder and blood running down his face, broke free from the donnybrook down front and ran up the aisle.

— daniel durchholz, Billboard, "Looking Back at the Riverport Riot as Guns N' Roses Return to St. Louis for First Show in 26 Years," 26 July 2017
Sacramento County District Attorney’s officials this week announced four arrests more than a year after the donnybrook between neo-Nazis and anti-fascist, or Antifa, demonstrators that left 10 people hurt, including at least five who were stabbed.

— darrell smith and anita chabria, sacbee, "‘Brown Beret’ activist faces assault, riot charges from Capitol melee with neo-Nazis," 21 July 2017
While everyone is grabbing the popcorn for the Blac Chyna-Rob Kardashian beef, the real donnybrook was happening Monday on TV One’s News One Now, when host Roland Martin had ankh-right leader Umar Abdullah-Johnson on his morning show.

— michael harriot, The Root, "We Fact-Checked Umar Johnson’s Hotep Tantrum With Roland Martin Because Someone Had To," 11 July 2017
The benches-clearing incident might be the only thing keeping alive graying terms like ruckus, donnybrook, rumble, battle royal and rhubarb.

— jeff miller, Orange County Register, "Miller: Time for baseball to deck the ‘brawls’," 10 June 2017
This triggered the biggest Major League Baseball melee since a 2010 donnybrook between the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals.

— chad pergram, Fox News, "The debt ceiling and Hunter Strickland, returning this summer with a vengeance?," 31 May 2017
Adding insult to injury has been a donnybrook over the Western Wall.

— james hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Echoes of Watergate as Trump flies to Middle East amid new Comey revelations," 19 May 2017
But those expecting a donnybrook will likely be disappointed, church experts say.

— daniel burke, CNN, "Donald Trump's risky religious pilgrimage," 18 May 2017
Then Odor connected with a right-handed punch squarely to Bautista’s jaw, touching off quite a donnybrook .

— noah trister, The Seattle Times, "Tempers flare as baseball’s division rivalries turn hostile," 5 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'donnybrook.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

The Donnybrook Fair was an annual event held in Donnybrook-then a suburb of Dublin, Ireland-from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The fair was legendary for the vast quantities of liquor consumed there, for the number of hasty marriages performed during the week following it, and, most of all, for the frequent brawls that erupted throughout it. Eventually, the fair's reputation for tumult was its undoing. From the 1790s on there were campaigns against the drunken brawl the fair had become. The event was abolished in 1855, but not before its name had become a generic term for a free-for-all.