rumpus

Meanings

1. A noisy, sometimes violent disturbance; noise and confusion; a noisy quarrel or brawl.
2. A rumpus room.

1. To cause a noisy disturbance or commotion.

Etymology

Unknown. First use appears c. 1745. The OED indicates: "perhaps an arbitrary formation". Possibly an alteration of rumbustical or rumbustious (“boisterous, noisy”) + Latin -us (“nominative suffix”). The use of the verbal form first appears c. 1839.