Haro

To cry out haro to anyone. To denounce his misdeeds, to follow him with hue and cry. “Ha rou” was the ancient Norman hue-and-cry, and the exclamation made by those who wanted assistance, their person or property being in danger. It is similar to our cry of “Police!” Probably our halloo is the same word.

⁂ In the Channel Isles, Ha! ho! à lʹaide, mon prince! is a protest still in vogue when one’s property is endangered, or at least was so when I lived in Jersey. It is supposed to be an appeal to Rollo, king of Normandy, to come to the aid of him suffering wrongfully.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.