Green’s Dictionary of Slang

an altercation, a violent quarrel, a tremendous fuss.

1842		N.Y. Daily Trib. 10 May 3/1: This ‘shindig’ as it was called, was a scene of great violence, riot and disorder.
1905		L. Pound ‘Dialect Speech in Nebraska’ in DN III:i 64: shindig, n. (2) row [...] ‘He kicked up a great shindig’.
1920		A. Baer Says ‘Bugs’ Baer 24 Aug. [synd. col.] Willard is another yazoo who [...] thinks he could do better in a return shindig.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 69: The most frightful shindig started in the bedroom.
1935		Eve. Teleg. (Angus, Scot.) 22 Nov. 15/4: We had a shindig with out fists. I knocked him out.
1944		R.L. Bellem ‘Murder’s Mouthpiece’ Hollywood Detective Aug. 🌐 This unpleasant shindig might result in a cargo of sour publicity unless he did something about it.
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 288: I must have tossed a shindig.
1969		C. Himes Blind Man with a Pistol (1971) 95: There are a couple of things in this particular shindig up there that need answering.
1984		P. Barker Blow Your House Down 70: I’m only here now because I had a bit of a shindig with the wife.
2008		J. Lansdale Leather Maiden 184: ‘There’s a big shindig coming up with the colored preacher doing a talk at the university, and there’s all manner of bullshit coming down about a protest’.