hew and cry vs hue and cry :

hew and cry or hue and cry

If you were to accidentally whack your leg with a hatchet you might be said to hew it, and you would certainly be justified in crying.

But in the expression “hue and cry” “hue” means “shout” and is derived from an Old French verb huer, designating the shouts that soldiers or hunters make when they are on the assault. It’s a bit redundant, like “screaming and shouting”; but the spelling in this expression is definitely the same as that of the word meaning “color”: hue.



Facebook Twitter Google +


  Do you make these 10 mistakes?
Definitions
  hue and cry
  • n  loud and persistent outcry from many people
News & Articles
  hew and cry
  • Poll: Majority Of Americans Comfortable With Surveillance
    There is a lot of hew and cry over the leaked National Security Agency program to track phone call and Internet searches. But even privacy advocates and companies who try to help people cover their digital footprints acknowledge it is almost impossible to disconnect from the grid, and that the benefits potentially outweigh their concerns.
    June 12, 2013 - NPR
  hue and cry
  • Slashdot Asks: How Will You Replace Google Reader?
    Despite a hue and cry from disappointed users, Google has not made any moves to reverse its decision to close down Google Reader on the first of July, just a few weeks away. Despite the name — and the functions it started out with in 2001 — Reader has become more than a simple interface to RSS feeds; Wikipedia gives a concise explanation of how it evolved from just a few features to a full-blown ...
    June 11, 2013 - Slashdot
  • Slashdot Asks: How Will You Replace Google Reader?
    Despite a hue and cry from disappointed users, Google has not made any moves to reverse its decision to close down Google Reader on the first of July, just a few weeks away. Despite the name — and the functions it started out with in 2001 — Reader has become more than a simple interface to RSS feeds; Wikipedia gives a concise explanation of how it evolved from just a few features to a full-blown ...
    June 11, 2013 - Slashdot