brawl
n. countablen. a noisy fight involving a group of people. It is usually more chaotic and less organized than a single duel.
n. a loud and disorderly fight, typically involving several people. Often implies a degree of confusion or lack of formal structure.
A loud brawl broke out near the bar.
The football match ended in a brawl after the referee made a controversial call.
The political debate quickly devolved into a bitter brawl, with both sides shouting over each other rather than listening.
The verb is derived from Late Middle English braulen, brall, brallen (“to clamour, to shout; to quarrel; to boast”); further etymology is uncertain, but the word could be related to bray and ultimately imitative. It may be cognate with Danish bralle (“to chatter, jabber”), Dutch brallen (“to boast”), Low German brallen (“to brag”), Middle High German prālen (“to boast, flaunt”) (modern German prahlen (“to boast, flaunt, vaunt”)). The noun is derived from Middle English brall, bralle, braul, braule, brawle (“disturbance, squabble; brawl”), from the verb braulen: see above.
Possibly from French branler (“to shake”), from Old French brandeler (“to shake, wave; to agitate”), from brand, branc (“blade of a sword”), from Vulgar Latin brandus (“firebrand; flaming sword; sword”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰrenu- (“to burn”).
From French branle (“type of dance; an act of shaking, a shake”), from branler (“to shake”), from Old French brandeler (“to shake, wave; to agitate”); see further at etymology 2. Alternatively, the word could be derived from brawl (“(obsolete) to move to and fro, quiver, shake”): see etymology 2.