rebato

Rebato is a noun used in Spanish with several historical and cultural senses. The principal sense designates an alarm signal or call to arms used to alert a population or to mobilize defenders in the face of danger. In medieval and early modern towns in Spain and Portugal, authorities would sound the rebato by bells, drums, or shouted alerts to summon residents during attacks, robberies, or sieges. The expression dar el rebato appears in historical accounts and chronicles describing such mobilizations.

A secondary, rarer use of rebato appears in literary or rhetorical contexts to denote a brief counterargument or reply. This sense is uncommon and largely regional, and it is not widely used in everyday speech.

The term also exists as a family name and in some place names in the Iberian Peninsula, though such uses are separate from the common counts of the word's alarm-related meaning.

In modern Spanish, the term is largely historical and specialized; in contemporary usage, the more common words for an alarm or alert are aviso, alerta, or sirena.