gevalt, noun

Forms:
gevolt, gewaltShow more Also gevolt, gewalt, gewolt.
Origin:
Yiddish, AfrikaansShow more Yiddish, out-cry, protest. The -w- spelling and the pronunciation /xəˈvalt/ are a result of Afrikaans influence.
colloquial
A row, noisy quarrel, rumpus.
a1931 S. Black in S. Gray Three Plays (1984) 160Rebecca: Don’t talk like that, Abie. It’s so horrible vulgar, them Jewish expressions. Abraham: Vell, don’t make a gewalt about it.
1949 H.C. Bosman Cold Stone Jug (1969) 35‘Wait till I finish, and I’ll run with you,’ he says, ‘What’s the gevolt?’
1971 B. Sachs Herman Charles Bosman 49It wasn’t a bust-up; it wasn’t a rumpus; and it wasn’t a gevalt — it was an altercation.
1978 S. Roberts in New Classic No.5, 20He and his mates used to be wild ous when we were all at the tech. It was one gewolt after the other.
1983 J. Allan in Sunday Times 21 Jan.There was only a gevalt..the night Tannie M— found E— in Miriam’s kia.
A row, noisy quarrel, rumpus.
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19311983