RIOT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Riot

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/rˈaɪət/ Listen

noun

Riot n.

Wanton or unrestrained behavior; uproar; tumult. "His headstrong riot hath no curb."

Excessive and exxpensive feasting; wild and loose festivity; revelry. "Venus loveth riot and dispense." "The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day."

(Law) The tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by an unlawful assembly of three or more persons in the execution of some private object.

To run riot, to act wantonly or without restraint.

verb

Riot v. t. To spend or pass in riot. "(He) had rioted his life out."

Riot v. i. (past & past part. rioted; pres. part. rioting)

To engage in riot; to act in an unrestrained or wanton manner; to indulge in excess of luxury, feasting, or the like; to revel; to run riot; to go to excess. "Now he exact of all, wastes in delight, Riots in pleasure, and neglects the law." "No pulse that riots, and no blood that glows."

(Law) To disturb the peace; to raise an uproar or sedition. See Riot, n., 3.

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Etymology of 'Riot'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Riot" Quotes from Famous Books

... comte de Viosmenil was made marshal at the Restoration; his brother the marquis was wounded and died, defending the royal family; the comte de Darnas, who helped their flight, barely escaped with his life; Fersen was killed in a riot at Stockholm; the comte Christian de Deux-Ponts was captured by Nelson while on a boat-excursion at Porto Cavallo: Nelson generously released him on learning who he was; Desoteux, the master of ceremonies of the Newport assembly, became the celebrated Chouan chief ...

— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, September 1880 • Various

... in fact. Vorse and Burkhardt devised the details. Weir should be left free until the blow had fallen on the camp, whereupon he should be immediately clapped into jail on the murder charge, which, coming on top of the "riot," would paralyze all company action and work. From such a crushing double-blow no concern could quickly recover, if indeed the loss did not result in total cessation ...

— In the Shadow of the Hills • George C. Shedd

... Chicago Defender reported on June 1, 1917, that five young men were arraigned before Judge John E. Schwartz of Savannah, Georgia, for reading poetry. The police contended that they were inciting riot in the city and over Georgia. Two of the men were sent for thirty days to Brown Farm, a place not fit for human beings. Tom Amaca was arrested for having "Bound for the Promised Land," a poem which had been recently published in the Defender. ...

— Negro Migration during the War • Emmett J. Scott

... of this little whistle, was certain of punishment. It was as important as the words "Silence, in the king's name!" or the reading of the riot-act. To-day it worked even more effectually than usual. Boges' self-satisfied smile showed that he had noticed this; he then favored the assembly with a look expressive of his contentment with their conduct, promised in a flowery speech to ...

— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... and swore until 7:15; then he had to stop because the audience wanted to come in and didn't dare to while the riot was on. ...

— Continuous Vaudeville • Will M. Cressy

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