Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Havoc

Havoc (hav"ok) , noun

[Welsh hafog devastation, havoc; or, if this be itself from English havoc, compare Old English havot, or Anglo-Saxon hafoc hawk, which is a cruel or rapacious bird, or French hai, voux! a cry to hounds.]

Wide and general destruction; devastation; waste.
As for Saul, he made havoc of the church. — Acts viii. 3
Ye gods, what havoc does ambition make Among your works! — Addison

Havoc , transitive verb

To devastate; to destroy; to lay waste.
To waste and havoc yonder world. — Milton

Havoc , interjection

[See Havoc, n.]

A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter. — Toone
Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt With modest warrant. — Shakespeare
Cry 'havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war! — Shakespeare