hue

A large public protest. The company's decision to send thousands of jobs overseas started a real hue and cry as people threatened to boycott its stores.

Fig. a loud public protest or opposition. (See also .) There was a hue and cry when the city government tried to build houses on the playing field. The decision to close the local school started a real hue and cry.

Fig. to make an issue about something; to alert people to a problem or difficulty. The city council raised a hue and cry about the mayor's proposed budget.

when there is a hue and cry about something, a lot of people complain noisily about it Local people raised a terrible hue and cry about the plan to close the village school.

A public clamor, as of protest or demand. For example, The reformers raised a hue and cry about political corruption. This redundant expression ( hue and cry both mean "an outcry"), dating from the 1200s, originally meant "an outcry calling for the pursuit of a criminal." By the mid-1500s it was also being used more broadly, as in the example.

A loud public clamor. The phrase was most usually heard as “raise a hue and cry.” According to old English law, any citizen who heard shouts that a possible lawbreaker was being pursued was required to join in the chase. The phrase is a combination of the Anglo-French hu (a shout of warning) and cri (to cry out).