Hurly-burly

This expression dates from the 16th century and means an uproar or tumultuous disturbance. In the 1400s, the word hurling meant commotion or strife and this then became hurling and burling, which the OED describes as a jingling collocation that was eventually shortened to hurly-burly. Shakespeare makes use of the expression in Macbeth Act I, Scene I, “When the hurly-burly’s done, when the battle’s lost and won.”