To´hu`bo´hu (to¯´hO¯-bo¯´hO¯)
n. 1. Chaos; confusion.
'Was ever such a tohubohu of people as there assembles?'
- Thackeray.
ALSO: from this source:
The word finds its origin in the Hebrew of Genesis 1:2 (tohu wa-bohu), where it describes the formless chaos of the primordial universe.... Note the selfsame expression in Arthur Rimbaud's masterly poem "Le Bateau Ivre," composed in 1871. In bespeaking the poet's quest to articulate the elusive, Rimbaud writes, "Et les Peninsules demarrees n'ont pas subi tohu-bohus plus triomphants" ("Peninsulas washed adrift from their moorings never experienced a more triumphant chaos".