- 1大混亂、嚴重破壞
Havoc is a situation with a lot of damage, mess, or disorder — so much that ordinary life is hard to keep going. A storm can cause havoc. A computer virus can cause havoc in an office. A small child can cause havoc in a quiet shop. It is uncountable: we say havoc, not a havoc, and not havocs. The set phrase you will hear again and again is wreak havoc (bring this kind of damage about); people also say play havoc with something, meaning to mess it up badly. The word has a slightly dramatic, headline feel, but ordinary speakers use it too. It started as a soldier’s cry: in old French wars, to “cry havoc” was the signal that fighters could start seizing things. We almost never use havoc as a verb in everyday English now; we cause it or wreak it.
From the word’s history
From Old French crier havok 'cry havoc', a signal to soldiers to plunder; havot 'looting' is of obscure origin.
來自古法文 crier havok，叫士兵開始搶掠的口令；havot 來源不明。
組成From Old French havok, in the phrase crier havok (“cry havoc”), a signal to soldiers to start taking plunder. The deeper origin is obscure; it may come from an old word for a hook, but that is not certain.
原始詞典資料5 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
havocnoun/ˈhævək/
- 1
Widespread devastation and destruction.
- I [Paul the Apostle] vvas going to Damaſcus vvith Letters from the High Prieſt to make Havock of God's People there, as I had made Havock of them in other places. Theſe bloody Letters vvas not impoſed upon me. I vvent to the High Prieſt and deſired them of him, Acts 9. 1, 2. And yet he [God] ſaved me!
- Ye Gods, what Havock does Ambition make / Among your Works!
- 2
Mayhem.
havocverb/ˈhævək/
- 1
To pillage.
- To tear and havoc more than she can eat.
- 2
To cause havoc.
havocintj/ˈhævək/
- 1
A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.
- Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt / With modest warrant.
- Cry "havoc", and let slip the dogs of war!
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。