What is hurlyburly?

Hurlyburly is an old-fashioned expression,
though one still occasionally in use today, which refers to something loud, chaotic, or unruly
going on. An alternative might be "hubbub" or "ruckus."

In , the expression is used by the Second Witch in the play's
opening scene:

When the
hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and
won.

The Witch is referring here to the chaos and
bloodshed of the nearby battle, where the braveis in the process of distinguishing himself in 's
service by leading a decisive rout of enemy forces.

The above lines come in
response to a question from the First Witch as to when the Weird Sisters will meet again. The
Second Witch says that this will happen when all the hurlyburly, or noise and chaos, of battle
is over, and one side has won and the other lost. Once the battle is safely out of the way, the
Weird Sisters will be able to tell Macbeth of their prophecies, thus planting the demon seed of
ambition in his mind.

Thehere, of course, is thatare about to create quite a
bit of hurlyburly themselves. By encouraging Macbeth's ambitions, they will unleash chaos,
disorder, and bloodshed upon the kingdom of Scotland. In other words, they need to wait for the
hurlyburly of battle to subside before they can create their own very special brand of
hurlyburly.