| 释义 |
madness|ˈmædnɪs|
[f. mad a. + -ness.]
The quality or condition of being mad.
1. Mental disease, insanity; now applied esp. to insanity characterized by wild excitement or extravagant delusions; mania. Also (in animals) rabies.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. vi. (1495) 226 And thise passions ben dyuers madnesse that hyghte Inania [read Mania] & madnesse that hyghte Malencolonia [sic]. c1440Promp. Parv. 319/2 Maddenesse, amencia, demencia. 1538Elyot Dict., Rabies, Madnesse of a dogge. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 46 Henbane, hath the name to be a cause of madnesse or furie. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 187 Let him..Make you to rauell all this matter out, That I essentially am not in madnesse But made in craft. 1611Bible Zech. xii. 4, I will smite euery horse with astonishment, and his rider with madnesse. 1687Mayern in Phil. Trans. XVI. 408 Doggs are Subject to these several sorts of Madness or rather diseases. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Mania, Madness arising from immaterial causes is much more difficult to cure. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 524 This delusion becomes almost a madness when many exiles..herd together. 1879Lindsay Mind in Lower Anim. I. 16 Madness in lower animals may mean any one of several very different affections, including especially insanity and rabies.
2. Imprudence or delusion resembling insanity; extravagant folly.
1382Wyclif Hos. ix. 7 Yrael, wite thou thee a fool, a wood prophete,..for the multitude of thi wickidnesse, and multitude of madnesse. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 368 What madnes were this, with his own mony..to maintaine the force of his adversarye. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 642 What Madness cou'd provoke A Mortal Man t'invade a sleeping God? 1721R. Keith tr. T. à Kempis' Solil. Soul x. 173 Wander not forth, O my Soul, after Vanities, nor after lying Madnesses. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 602 To advance towards London would have been madness. 1862G. Long Thoughts of Antoninus (1877) 113 To seek what is impossible is madness. 1885J. Payn Talk of Town II. 69 It would have been madness indeed to have any altercation.
3. Ungovernable anger, rage, fury.
1665Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 273 The baser sort of people cover'd nothing of their Madness, but shew'd their Fury in their Speeches. 1698Vanbrugh Prov. Wife ii. i, Now could I cry for madness, but that I know he'd laugh at me for it. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxx. III. 157 The madness of the people soon subsided. 1802Mrs. J. West Infidel Father III. 45 Sir Bronze absolutely stamped for madness at this intelligence.
transf.1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 367 Not with more Madness, rolling from afar, The spumy Waves proclaim the watry War. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 87 Then I see..the waves Lashed into madness.
4. Extravagant excitement or enthusiasm; ecstasy.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. i. ii. 21 Such a hare is madness the youth, to skip ore the meshes of good counsaile the cripple. 1607Norden Surv. Dial. i. 9 A kind of madness, as I may call it, but in the best sence it is a kind of ambitious..emulation. 1775Johnson Tax. no Tyr. 55 The madness of independence has spread from Colony to Colony. 1799Campbell Pleas. Hope i. 160 The smiling Muse..Shall..breathe a holy madness o'er thy mind. 1820Shelley Skylark 103 Such harmonious madness From my lips would flow. 1822Lamb Elia Ser. i. On Some Old Actors, None..possessed even a portion of that fine madness which he threw out in Hotspur's famous rant. 1879Symonds Shelley 195 The Muses filled this man with sacred madness. |