n [ pl ]
a series of violent disturbances that lasted for a week in 1780 in London, England, the most serious riots ever to occur in Britain. They started when a large group of people, led by Lord Gordon (1751–93), went to the House of Commons to protest against the Emancipation Act . They also attacked the Bank of England and Newgate prison, allowing prisoners to escape and cause more damage. The riots are described in Charles Dickens’s novel Barnaby Rudge .