Deeper Dive: mad
Mad
(?), obs. p. p. of Made. Chaucer.
Mad
, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Madded; p. pr. & vb. n.Madding.] To make mad or furious; to madden.
Had I but seen thy picture in this plight, It would have madded me.
Shak.
Mad
(?), a. [Compar.Madder (?); superl. Maddest (?).] [AS. gem?d, gemād, mad; akin to OS. gem?d foolish, OHG. gameit, Icel. mei?a to hurt, Goth. gamÁids weak, broken. ?.]
1. Disordered in intellect; crazy; insane.
I have heard my grandsire say full oft, Extremity of griefs would make men mad.
Shak.
2. Excited beyond self-control or the restraint of reason; inflamed by violent or uncontrollable desire, passion, or appetite; as, to be mad with terror, lust, or hatred; mad against political reform.
It is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
Jer. 1. 88.
And being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.
Acts xxvi.
11.
3. Proceeding from, or indicating, madness; expressing distraction; prompted by infatuation, fury, or extreme rashness. "Mad demeanor." Milton.
Mad wars destroy in one year the works of many years of peace.
Franklin.
The mad promise of Cleon was fulfilled.
Jowett (Thucyd.).
4. Extravagant; immoderate. "Be mad and merry." Shak. "Fetching mad bounds." Shak.
5. Furious with rage, terror, or disease; -- said of the lower animals; as, a mad bull; esp., having hydrophobia; rabid; as, a mad dog.
6. Angry; out of patience; vexed; as, to get mad at a person. [Colloq.]
7. Having impaired polarity; -- applied to a compass needle. [Colloq.]
Like mad, like a mad person; in a furious manner; as, to run like mad. L\Estrange. -- To run mad. (a) To become wild with excitement. (b) To run wildly about under the influence of hydrophobia; to become affected with hydrophobia. -- To run mad after, to pursue under the influence of infatuation or immoderate desire. "The world is running mad after farce." Dryden.
Mad
, n. [AS. ma?a; akin to D. & G. made, Goth. mapa, and prob. to E. moth.] (Zoöl.) An earthworm. [Written also made.]
Mad
, v. i. To be mad; to go mad; to rave. See Madding. [Archaic] Chaucer.
Festus said with great voice, Paul thou maddest.
Wyclif (Acts).
-- Webster's unabridged 1913
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