mad
Translingual
English
Etymology
From Middle English mad, madde, madd, medd, from Old English ġemǣdd, ġemǣded (“enraged”), past participle of ġemǣdan, *mǣdan (“to make insane or foolish”), from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to change; damage; cripple; injure; make mad”), from Proto-Germanic *maidaz ("weak; crippled"; compare Old English gemād (“silly, mad”), Old High German gimeit (“foolish, crazy”), literary German gemeit (“mad, insane”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (gamaiþs, “crippled”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- ("to change"; compare Old Irish máel (“bald, dull”), Old Lithuanian ap-maitinti (“to wound”), Sanskrit मेथति (méthati, “he hurts, comes to blows”)).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmæd/
- (Southern England, Australia) IPA(key): /ˈmæːd/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -æd
Adjective
mad (comparative madder, superlative maddest)
- Insane; crazy, mentally deranged.
- You want to spend $1000 on a pair of shoes? Are you mad?
- He's got this mad idea that he's irresistible to women.
- c. 1588–1593, William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i]:
- I have heard my grandsire say full oft, / Extremity of griefs would make men mad.
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, OCLC 246633669, PC, scene: Eden Prime:
- Dr. Manuel: Is it madness to see the future? To see the destruction rushing towards us? To understand there is no escape? No hope? No, I am not mad. I'm the only sane one left!
- (chiefly US; informal in UK) Angry, annoyed.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Acts 26:11:
- And I punished them oft in euery Synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme, and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them euen vnto strange cities.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 6, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- She was so mad she wouldn't speak to me for quite a spell, but at last I coaxed her into going up to Miss Emmeline's room and fetching down a tintype of the missing Deacon man.
- Are you mad at me?
-
- (chiefly in the negative, informal) Used litotically to indicate satisfaction or approval.
- Wow, you really made this pie from scratch? I'm not mad at it.
- (UK, informal) Bizarre; incredible.
- It's mad that I got that job back a day after being fired.
- Wildly confused or excited.
- to be mad with terror, lust, or hatred
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Jeremiah 1:88:
- It is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
- 1787, R. Bage, The Fair Syrian, p.314
- My brother, quiet as a cat, seems perfectly contented with the internal feelings of his felicity. The Marquis, mad as a kitten, is all in motion to express it, from tongue to heel.
- Extremely foolish or unwise; irrational; imprudent.
- (colloquial, usually with for or about) Extremely enthusiastic about; crazy about; infatuated with; overcome with desire for.
- Aren't you just mad for that red dress?
- (of animals) Abnormally ferocious or furious; or, rabid, affected with rabies.
- a mad dog
- (slang, chiefly Northeastern US) Intensifier, signifies an abundance or high quality of a thing; very, much or many.
- I gotta give you mad props for scoring us those tickets.
Their lead guitarist has mad skills.
There are always mad girls at those parties.
- (of a compass needle) Having impaired polarity.
Usage notes
- In Commonwealth countries other than Canada, mad typically implies the insane or crazy sense more so than the angry sense.
- In the United States and Canada, the word mad refers to anger much more often than madness, but such usage is still considered informal by some speakers and labeled as such even in North American English by most UK dictionaries. This is due to an old campaign (since 1781 by amateur language pundits) to discredit the angry sense of the word that was more effective in the UK than in North America. Though not as old as the sense denoting insanity, the sense relating to anger is certainly very old (going back at least to the fourteenth century).[1]
- On the other hand, if one is described as having "went mad" or "gone mad" in North America, this denotes insanity, and not anger. Meanwhile, if one "is mad at" something or has "been mad about" something, it is understood that they are angered rather than insane. In addition, such derivatives as "madness", "madman", "madhouse" and "madly" always denote insanity, irrespective of whether one is in the Commonwealth or in North America.
Synonyms
- (insane): See also Thesaurus:insane
- (angry): See also Thesaurus:angry
- (slang: Intensifier, much): wicked, mighty, kinda, helluv, hella.
Translations
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Adverb
mad (not comparable)
- (slang, New England, New York and UK, dialect) Intensifier; to a large degree; extremely; exceedingly; very; unbelievably.
- He was driving mad slow.
- It's mad hot today.
- He seems mad keen on her.
Verb
mad (third-person singular simple present mads, present participle madding, simple past and past participle madded)
- (obsolete, intransitive) To be or become mad. [14th–19th c.]
- (now colloquial US, Jamaica) To madden, to anger, to frustrate. [from 15th c.]
- 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene 5]:
- This musick mads me, let it sound no more.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection iv:
- He that mads others, if he were so humoured, would be as mad himself, as much grieved and tormented […] .
- 1993 March 22, “Oh Carolina”, in Pure Pleasure, performed by Shaggy (musician):
- Carolina! Whine your body gyal! Make Dem know say you have it fi mad dem
-
Derived terms
References
Breton
Etymology
From Proto-Brythonic *mad, from Proto-Celtic *matis.
Danish
Etymology 1
From Old Norse matr, from Proto-Germanic *matiz, cognate with Norwegian, Swedish mat (“food”), English meat, German Mett (from Low German).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mað/, [ˈmæð̠˕ˠ]
audio (file) - Rhymes: -ad
Inflection
common gender |
Singular | |
---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | |
nominative | mad | maden |
genitive | mads | madens |
Derived terms
- babymad
- aftensmad
- morgenmad
- natmad
- madglad
Noun
mad c (singular definite madden, plural indefinite madder)
- a slice of bread with something on top.
Usage notes
Very compound-prone; see for example ostemad or pølsemad.
Inflection
Derived terms
- hurtigmad
- ostemad
- pindemad
- pølsemad
- rugbrødsmad
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /maːˀð/, [ˈmaˀð]
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old English ġemǣdd, ġemǣded, the past participle of ġemǣdan.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mad/, /mɛd/
Adjective
mad (plural and weak singular madde, comparative madder, superlative maddyst)
- Mad, insane, deranged; not of sound mind.
- Emotionally overwhelmed; consumed by mood or feelings.
- Perplexed, bewildered; surprised emotionally.
- Irate, rageful; having much anger or fury.
- Idiotic or dumb; badly thought out or conceived
- (rare) Obstinate, incautious, overenthusiastic.
- (rare) Distraught, sad, unhappy.
- (rare) Scatterbrained or absent-minded.
References
- “mā̆d, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-09.
Etymology 2
Derived from the adjective.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /maːd/, /mad/
Old Irish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [mað]
Palauan
Etymology 1
From Pre-Palauan *maða, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *mata, from Proto-Austronesian *maCa.
Noun
mad
Inflection
Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|
First | inclusive | medad | |
exclusive | medak | medemam | |
Second | medam | medemiu | |
Third | medal | mederir |
Etymology 2
From Pre-Palauan *maðe, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *(m-)atay, from Proto-Austronesian *(m-)aCay.
References
- mad in Palauan Language Online: Palauan-English Dictionary, at tekinged.com.
- mad in Palauan-English Dictionary, at trussel2.com.
- mad in Lewis S. Josephs; Edwin G. McManus; Masa-aki Emesiochel (1977) Palauan-English Dictionary, University Press of Hawaii, →ISBN, page 139.
Welsh
Etymology
From Proto-Brythonic *mad, from Proto-Celtic *matis.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /maːd/
- Rhymes: -aːd