noise n.1
1. a complaint.
 | Wolverhampton Chron. 24 Jan. 3/4: [He] took the prisoner aside and asked him in slang terms if he had been passing a bad note, prisoner inquired if there was noise about it. and he (Colley) told him there was. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Diggings, the Bush, and Melbourne 19: The transaction was looked upon not as a robbery, but as a first-rate practical joke, marred only by the two jokers having to absent themselves [...] on account of ‘the noise’ the victim had made about it to the police. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Mad mag. May–June 20: My life were better busted by their noise. |
2. (UK Und.) a row.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | (con. 1840s–50s) London Labour and London Poor II 495/2: He’d always have a noise with mother when he came home. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Dundee Courier (Scot.) 1 Sept. 7/3: Strikes me there’ll be a noise about this business [...] I shall make tracks to Hull to-day. |
3. (US) chatter, gossip, empty, foolish talk.
| Trial of Elizabeth Canning in Howell State Trials (1816) 555: Then this affair had made a great deal of noise in the country?—Yes, it had. | |
| Thraliana ii 20 Feb. 758: Graves’s imitation of Swift & Arbuthnot is pretty in its way, but makes no Noise . | |
| Justified Sinner 250: [T]he judge’s sudden death made a great noise. | |
| (con. 1840s–50s) London Labour and London Poor I 236/1: A clever patterer [...] is very particular in his choice of a mate, frequently changing his ordinary partner, who may be good ‘at a noise’ or a ballad, but not have sufficient acuteness or intelligence to patter politics as if he undestood what he was speaking about. | |
| Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde 10: [H]is eye lighted up with professional ambition. ‘This [i.e. a crime] will make a deal of noise,’ he said. | |
| ‘The Cane Brake Song’ 🎵 Shut yer noise, gals and boys, now mind I told yer plain. | |
| ‘Libelled Ladies’Sporting Times 20 June 1/3: Any lie will do to stop the old girl’s noise. | |
| (The Web) in Ten ‘Lost’ Plays (1995) 63: I wanted to give the noise time to blow over. | |
| Hand-made Fables 94: Where do you get that Noise? | |
| Neon Wilderness (1986) 276: I [...] seen a young punk in puttees lookin’ for guys to pick oranges, and I thought hell with that noise. | |
| Jimmy Brockett 279: Dargan made nearly as much noise as when I made him shell out for those shares. | |
| Return of the Hood 83: I think it makes sense [...] I heard noises like that from the boys. | |
| Carlito’s Way 130: I object to all this noise about Jorge Betancourt when he ain’t even here. | |
| Patriot Game (1985) 93: The likes of them that care nothin’ for people but only for gettin’ up with a microphone there and makin’ a lot of damned noise. | |
| Scholar 248: The girl was in tears, makin’ up a whole ’eap o’ noise. | |
| At End of Day (2001) 202: I’m tiredah ya noise — take a hike. | |
| Crongton Knights 13: ‘Delete your noise and listen up’. |
4. (US) the world of the city (as opposed to the supposed quaintness of the countryside).
| Forty Modern Fables 251: He looked over the Correspondence and dictated a few Letters and got the Noise in his Ears and began to feel Good again. His Associates told him to clear out and play with the Deer. | |
| ‘Corkscrew’ Story Omnibus (1966) 221: ‘Living out here isn’t any different from dying in the big city.’ ‘How long have you been away from the noise?’ I asked her. |
5. a (self-)important person.
| Jack Spurlock 153: A lot of people are beginning to think that Teddy’s a mere noise [OED]. | |
| ‘The New Fable of the Lonesome Camp’ in Ade’s Fables 260: Elam became the Loud Noise around a dinky Manufacturing Plant down by the Yards. | |
| Hand-made Fables 52: Up to the time he closed his Desk every Day he was a Loud Noise. | |
| Third Round 537: With the best will in the world you couldn’t call him a financial noise. |
6. (US) fashion, popularity.
| Mutt & Jeff 21 Sept. [synd. strip] One of the new wide-brimmed English birds [i.e. hats] [...] Those are the real noise in London. | |
| Jazz Masters 14: ‘[T]he man who started the big noise in jazz was Buddy Bolden [...] I guess he deserves credit for starting it all. | |
| q. in Firestone Swing, Swing, Swing (1993) 354: ‘I was starting to make a lot of noise as a singer’. |
7. (US) information, the know.
| ‘Chatter of Guns’ in Sat. Eve. Post 13 Apr.; list extracted in AS VI:2 (1930) 133: noise, n. Tip. Cf. blow-up. |
8. (US/W.I.) serious trouble.
| Panic in Needle Park (1971) 185: He found out about it, and he was giving me all kinds of noise about it. | |
| Down These Mean Streets (1970) 7: What a kid [...] He probably was up some friend’s house. I’m gonna talk to him in the daytime. It’s too late to make noise now. | |
| Scholar 286: She’d sulk an’ mek up noise. | |
| Source Aug. 48: He doesn’t really get into fights, but he’ll tell you what’s on his mind if you’re trying to bring that type of noise. |
In derivatives
(US) of clothes, showy, ‘loud’.
| Checkers 231: You’re [...] makin’ a swell front, with your noisy duds and plenty of money. |
In compounds
(W.I.) the voice.
| ‘Afternoon in Trinidad’ in Lehmann Penguin New Writing No. 6 69: You carn’ keep your noise-box quiet, enh gerl? |
In phrases
(W.I.) to be in trouble.
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | cited in Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage (1996). |
(Aus.) to buy a round of drinks.
| ‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxvi 4/1: make a noise: Hit the kick, rattle the bin, buy a drink in turn. |
to discuss, with the implication that one wishes to take some form of action.
| Scrambled Yeggs 8: A lot of guys wouldn’t like you comin’ around making noises like you’re making. | |
| New Scientist 22 June 718: General Electric and Alcoa, for example, are making noises about getting into city building. | |
| Scholar 290: You was makin’ noise about wantin’ to help me out, so help me out nuh?! |
(US) the height of fashion.
| A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 84: Golfing is the real noise in the eastern burgs at this season. |
In exclamations
shut up! stop talking!
| Leeds Times 15 July 5/2: I heard him say [...] ‘Hold your din’. | |
| Berks. Chron. 9 May 2/3: Hold your noise; he’s going to pay his poor-rates. | |
| Barry Lyndon (1905) 30: Hold your noise, Mick! | |
| Sixteen-String Jack 124: Hold your row, quiet you. | |
| Leeds Times 27 Dec. 7/2: D—n you, hold your din, or else I’ll murder you. | |
| Liverpool Dly Post 29 Sept. 3/2: He said, ‘No matter who I am; you hold your noise‘. | |
| Eton School Days 13: Hold your row, will you? | |
| Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 131/1: ‘’Aud th’ noiyse, wilt t’a? thau druckin kow,’ shouted Harriet. | |
| Lorna Doone (1923) 34: Hold your noise! | |
| East London Obs. 11 Oct. 7/1: Armed with a long knife [he] said with an oath, ‘If you don’t hold your row, you will get this’. | |
| Oxford Jrnl 23 Aug. 3/6: Dear Nursey-pursey [...] who, when I yell’d, cried ‘Hold your din’. | |
| Dundee Courier 18 May 3/2: Confound you, hold your noise. | |
| Three Brass Balls 68: Howd yer row, will yer? | |
| Rainbow Gold III 131: ‘Hold your noise!’ cried Aaron. | |
| Burnley Exp. 6 Feb. 7/2: If you don’t hold your din, I will punce you. | |
| Essex Newsman 13 Sept. 3/3: Hold your row, don’t be afraid. | |
| Boy’s Own Paper 20 May 539: ‘You hold your row,’ growled Judd. | |
| News of the World 7 Jan. 4/4: Mr. Williams told his wife to stop and she told him to ‘hold his noise or she would serve him the same’. | |
| ‘Captain’s Defaulters’ in Naval Occasions 11: The Second-class Stoker [...] suddenly sniffled and was reproved in an under tone by the Master-at-Arms. ‘’Old yer row!’ said that dignitary. | |
| Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 31 Mar. 3/2: Oh, hold your row, mother! | |
| Good Companions 634: Howd thi noise, Sam! | |
| ‘Afternoon in Trinidad’ in Lehmann Penguin New Writing No. 6 81: ‘Hol’ you noise, all you,’ Napoleon shouted. | |
| Joyful Condemned 272: Hold your noise, Duchess. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Awatea (1978) 84: Hold your noise! You know nothing. | |
| Down and Out 75: Hold your ruddy noise. | |
| ‘D-notice’ in Dead Sea Poems 31: To hold my noise for ever, that / would be my pleasure. |
SE in slang uses
In phrases
to pretend to be, usu. as an imper. command that is rendered humorous through its impossibility, e.g. go into the changing room and make a noise like a cricket bat (cf. make like (a)... v.).
| Chimmie Fadden and Mr Paul 274: ‘Climb a tree, and make a noise like a nut,’ I says. | |
| Sorrows of a Show Girl Ch. i: If you make a noise like a dollar-bill anywhere between the two Flatirons you’re liable to be the center of a raging mob. | |
| [song title] Whoop! Whoop!! Whoop!!! Make a Noise Like a Hoop and Roll Away. | |
| Daily Trib. (Bismarck, ND) 12 Jan. 6/3: Captain Henry G. Lyon, U.S.A., was the innocent cause of the slang expression about ‘making a noise like’ this or that. | |
| Torchy 144: ‘They’ve been following me for an hour [...]’ ‘Maybe you’ve been makin’ a noise like a wienerwurst.’. | |
| Limehouse Nights 296: Suffish. Make a noise like a hoop and roll away! | |
| Three Soldiers 366: Couldn’t you just make a noise like a hoop an’ roll away? | |
| Black Gang 289: I make a noise like an ant’s egg and drop them [i.e. goldfish] in the sink every morning. | |
| Wise-crack Dict. 11/2: Make a noise like a trunk – Express yourself. | |
| A Cop Remembers 84: Just make a noise like a fish but keep your eyes open. |
In exclamations
turn up the volume.
| Black Talk. | |
| Portable Promised Land (ms.) 158: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Bring the noise. Kill that noise. Kick yo ass. |
(US) forget it! rubbish! what a bore!
| Sl. U. | |
| Another Day in Paradise 233: The Mid-fuckin’-west. Cows and hillbillies. Fuck that noise. | |
| Dark Splendour 178: Once again, Douglas, fuck that noise. I’ve got reason to believe that you’re wrong. |