panicn.1
/ˈpanɪk/, U.S. /ˈpænɪk/ Originally: Italian or foxtail millet, Setaria italica (formerly Panicum italicum). Later: any of various cereals and other grasses of the genus Panicum or of allied genera once included in it, esp. Setaria or Echinochloa. Also: the grain of any of these plants. Cf. panicum n.Now chiefly as panic grass: see Compounds 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > [noun] > panic grasses
panic?1440
summer grass1531
panicle1577
manna-grass1597
panic grass1597
panicum1739
crab-grass1743
witchgrass1790
old-witch grass1859
vine-bamboo1871
Vandyke1889
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > cereal, corn, or grain > [noun] > millet > other types of millet
panic?1440
panicle1577
Turkey mill1597
panicum1739
ragi1788
tocusso1790
Egyptian millet1829
eleusine1836
shamalo1846
marua1847
moha1855
shama1874
jungle-rice1886
fonio1903
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) iv. 50 (MED) Panyk [L. panicum] & mylde in hoot & drie is sowe.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 260 Of Moscouia..the fieldes beare..mylle and panyke, whiche the Italians caule Melica.
1562 W. Turner 2nd Pt. Herball f. 76v Panic is of the kynde of pulses, and in lykenes lyke vnto millet.
1597 J. Gerard Herball i. 78 There be sundrie sorts of Panick.
1659 R. Lovell Παμβοτανολογια 343 Panicke..K[inds] as the Indian, blew, West Indian with a very long eare, the Germane, and the wild.
1732 J. Arbuthnot Pract. Rules of Diet i. 251 Panick, aperient, boil'd with Milk.
1814 R. Southey Roderick Notes p. cxi The Hermit took a loaf..made of pannick and of rye.
1852 G. P. Badger Nestorians I. 214 Three kinds of millet or pannick..make the bread-flour in general use.
1871 Amer. Naturalist 5 619 The panics and herd's grasses are especially lovely, both in the fields..and in the vase at home.
1880 C. H. Poole Attempt Gloss. Stafford Panick, millet.
1992 W. T. Parsons & E. G. Cuthbertson Noxious Weeds Austral. 259/1 Then sow a mixture of molasses grass, Melinis minutiflora Beauv., and green panic, Panicum trichoglume Robyns, in the ashes.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.† panic bread n. Obsolete rare
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > bread > [noun] > millet bread
panic bread1814
kalo1966
1814 R. Southey Roderick Notes p. cxxxi The king would eat only of the pannick bread, as he had been wont to do.
panic seed n. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > [noun] > panic grasses > seed
panic seed1591
1591 R. Percyvall Bibliotheca Hispanica Dict. at Panojo Pannycke seede, Pannicula.
1989 Jrnl. Commerce (Nexis) 26 Mar. (Exports section) 8 b Wants blue panic seeds... Quality: top grade. Packaging: 50-kg bags.
C2.
panic grass n. panic; (later) spec. (often with distinguishing word) any of numerous grasses of the genus Panicum.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > [noun] > panic grasses
panic?1440
summer grass1531
panicle1577
manna-grass1597
panic grass1597
panicum1739
crab-grass1743
witchgrass1790
old-witch grass1859
vine-bamboo1871
Vandyke1889
1597 J. Gerard Herball i. 7 Pannicke grasse is garnished with chaffie and downie tufts.
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. ii. iv. 73 Panic-Grass.
1797 W. Johnston in tr. J. Beckmann Hist. Inventions & Discov. II. 248 (note) The slender spiked cock's foot panic-grass, panicum sanguinale.
1870 W. Robinson Wild Garden ii. 121 Twiggy Panic Grass..is an elegant plant.
1929 J. E. Weaver & F. E. Clements Plant Ecol. vii. 134 (caption) Competition between tall panic grass and evening primrose.
1999 Nature Conservancy May–June 26/2 The site harbors rare bristling panic grass and offers refuge for wintering bald eagles.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
panicadj.n.2
/ˈpanɪk/, U.S. /ˈpænɪk/ A. adj.† 3. Universal, general. Obsolete.Apparently an isolated use.
1. Usually with capital initial. Of, relating to, characteristic of, or associated with the ancient Greek god Pan. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > classical deity > [adjective] > of or relating to Pan
panical1640
Pandean1807
panic1890
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1593) iv. 409 And therfore with Panike cries and laughters.
1638 tr. F. Bacon Hist. Life & Death 81 But as Pan was their god, so all these Relations are but Pannicke vaine [L. panica & vana] Fables.
a1661 B. Holyday tr. Juvenal Satyres (1673) 120 Which..they thought might be prevented by making a loud and panick noise with brasen vessels.
1882 J. B. Newbrough Oahspe xvi. 210/2 I ask of thee one boon, which is, that I may be put to death according to the Panic rites which were before the flood?
1890 Cent. Dict. 4259/2 Bacchic and Panic figures.
1921 A. Huxley Crome Yellow xviii Puritan magistrates..had come upon a company of men and women, dancing, stark naked, among the sheepcotes... The dancers were arrested, whipped, gaoled, set in the stocks... What old, earthy, Panic rite came to extinction here?
2.
a. Of fear, terror, etc.: sudden, wild, or unreasoning.Originally and chiefly used allusively with reference to a feeling of sudden terror, which was attributed by the ancient Greeks to the influence of the god Pan.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > apprehension > [adjective] > of or pert to panic(s)
panicala1600
panic1603
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 425 Sudden foolish frights, without any certeine cause, which they call Panique Terrores [Fr. terreurs Paniques].
1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 11 I hope my feares are but panick.
1665 T. Herbert Some Years Trav. (new ed.) 241 That great Army..were put into that pannick fear that they were shamefully put to flight.
1700 J. Dryden Chaucer's Cock & Fox in Fables 250 Ran Cow and Calf, and Family of Hogs, In Panique Horror of pursuing Dogs.
1770 J. Langhorne & W. Langhorne tr. Plutarch Lives (1879) II. 701/2 A panic fear ran through the camp.
1810 M. F. Johnson Vision in Orig. Sonnets 111 Whence sprung the panic dread, the nervous spleen.
1882 R. Jefferies Bevis I. iv. 57 Those that were up in the recesses were suddenly seized with panic fear without cause, and struggled to get out.
1924 Cent. Mag. Feb. 490/2 A man who said he loved God meant that his vertebrae rattled from panic fear when he contemplated the fate of the sinner.
1973 T. Pynchon Gravity's Rainbow iii. 303 It was always easy, in open and lonely places, to be visited by Panic wilderness fear.
1995 Observer (Nexis) 16 Apr. (Review section) 18 Ashton must not discover Rory's secret, his panic dread of the dark.
b. Of the nature of, resulting from, or exhibiting a sudden wild, unreasoning, or excessive state of fear or alarm.In later use sometimes apprehended as an attributive use of the noun; see also branch Compounds 1.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > apprehension > [adjective] > of or pert to panic(s) > panic-stricken
panic1642
panic-stricken1766
panic-struck1776
panicky1862
panicked1916
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > loudness > confused sound > [adjective] > uproar or tumult
obstreperousc1600
clamouring1635
panic1642
pandemoniana1788
rackety1787
fast and furious1790
uproarious1818
racketing1843
pandemoniacal1862
whooping1866
1642 T. Fuller Holy State iv. xviii. 332 They..lift up a panick schrick which pierced the skies.
a1678 A. Marvell First Anniv. in Misc. Poems (1681) 124 And all about was heard a Panique groan, As if that Natures self were overthrown.
1705 D. Defoe D—— Deputies 5 The pannick French-men trembling at their Feet.
1742 S. Johnson Deb. Senate Lilliput in Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 72 The Tumults of Ambition in one Place, and a panic Stillness in another.
1824 J. Galt Rothelan II. iii. vii. 70 He cried, with a shrill and panic voice, for Shebak.
1889 Dict. National Biogr. XIX. 95/1 Simultaneous attacks on the English van from the castle and from the outside soon put it in confusion, while the main body was driven back in panic retreat to Gournay.
a1902 F. Norris Pit (1903) ii. 64 He set his feet toward conquest,..trampling down the auxiliaries of the day before, in a panic dash for safety.
1988 ‘C. J. Cherryh’ Cyteen 3 The unexpected rush of stationers to new construction at Pell..became a panic flood.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > [adjective] > universal
universala1393
worldly1538
catholic1552
ecumenical1607
universary1642
panica1661
global1835
cosmic1846
pancosmic1853
universalistic1872
mondial1908
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) i. 77 Seeing sometimes a Pannick silence herein.
B. n.2† 2. gen. Strong, infectious, unreasoning feeling of any kind. Obsolete. rare.
1.
a. A sudden feeling of alarm or fear of sufficient intensity or uncontrollableness as to lead to extravagant or wildly unthinking behaviour, such as that which may spread through a crowd of people; the state of experiencing such a feeling. Also: an instance or episode of such feeling; a scare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > types of emotion > [noun] > contagious
panic1640
the mind > emotion > fear > apprehension > [noun] > panic
frightnessc1425
amaze1587
amazedness1587
terrification1601
panic1640
sauve-qui-peut1815
panic stations1918
tailspin1921
1640 in J. Maidment Analecta Scotica (1834) I. 388 Ther panich soir mead the most pairt of theme flie the toun.
1708 Ld. Shaftesbury Let. conc. Enthusiasm 23 The Uncertainty of what they fear'd made their Fear yet greater... And this was what in after-times Men call'd a Pannick.
1741 H. Walpole Corr. 13 Oct. (1955) xvii. 170 Amorevoli..is in panics about the first night.
1765 H. Brooke Fool of Quality (Dublin ed.) I. iii. 70 At Sight hereof, Master Dicky..screamed out, and ran behind his Mamma's Chair..; the Pannick grew instantly contagious.
1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India II. iv. viii. 277 The General..fulfilled the fondest wishes of Hyder, by taking the panic, and running away from the army.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. xii. 123 Parental instinct was mastered by panic.
1879 J. A. Froude Cæsar xxii. 382 Cæsar's soldiers were seized with panic.
1925 F. S. Fitzgerald Great Gatsby vii. 149 As we drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic.
1951 L. P. Hartley My Fellow Devils xxi. 222 It was a little panic, rather like claustrophobia, I suppose, but I got over it.
2001 F. Popcorn & A. Hanft Dict. Future 356 Panic about space bugs..will gain increased attention as unmanned spacecraft reach further in the next decade.
b. A condition of widespread apprehension in relation to financial and commercial matters, leading to hasty measures to secure against possible loss.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > apprehension > [noun] > panic > financial or commercial
panic1757
1757 J. Harris Ess. Money & Coins 31 No alteration can be made in the standard of money without..producing..distrusts and panics.
1826 C. Knight Pop. Hist. Eng. VIII. xi. 195 This pecuniary crisis [in 1825]..universally obtained the name of ‘The Panic’.
1863 H. Fawcett Man. Polit. Econ. iii. xi. 444 Commercial panics are caused by a reckless employment of credit.
1900 Congress. Rec. 16 Jan. 881/2 During the late panic banks in New York loaned money as high as 100 per cent.
1973 C. C. Trench George II xv. 232 London was in a panic, the stocks falling fast.
c. British Navy slang. A state of urgent, agitated activity; commotion, bustle; a ‘flap’. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 220 Panic, the culminating phase of a ‘Flap’ on board a ship when getting ready for sea, etc., at top speed in an emergency.
1939 W. G. Carr Brass Hats & Bell-bottomed Trousers xiv. 178 Thus it was that never for more than a few hours at a time were these ships and their crews free from a ‘panic’, as it was called.
ΚΠ
1708 Ld. Shaftesbury Let. conc. Enthusiasm 24 We may..call every Passion Pannick which is rais'd in a Multitude, and convey'd by Aspect, or as it were by Contact, or Sympathy.
1708 Ld. Shaftesbury Let. conc. Enthusiasm 25 There are many Pannicks in Mankind, besides merely that of Fear. And thus is Religion also Pannick.
3. U.S. colloquial (originally Theatre). A source of enormous amusement, a ‘scream’; a wildly popular or successful show, act, entertainer, etc. Cf. riot n. 9.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [noun] > one who or that which is comical
comedy1535
toy1542
jest1602
joke1670
comic1674
high comedy1707
humorous1753
comicality1796
funny1852
funniosity1871
hot sketch1917
pisser1918
riot1919
panic1921
cocasserie1934
yell1938
mess1952
crack-up1961
1921 Variety 28 Jan. 8 Kellam and O'Dare tore it wide open again for another panic, going to three or four speeches.
1925 Collier's 19 Sept. 7 I like to read about [detectives]. I think Nick Carter and Sherlock Holmes was a pair of panics.
1946 T. Williams 27 Wagons Cotton iii. 27 Flora: Says—(She goes off into another spasm of laughter.) Jake: What ever he said must've been a panic!
1995 Entertainm. Weekly 19 May 38 You're a wild man! a sharp-tongued riot! the biggest panic who's ever worked a microphone!
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.† panic-master n. Obsolete Apparently an isolated use.
panic-cry n.
ΚΠ
1868 E. Atherstone Fall of Nineveh (ed. 2) II. xv. 14 Suddenly, far off, loud panic-cries, And the dread trumpet-scream..Shot horror through all hearts.
1870 J. H. Burton Hist. Scotl. to 1688 VII. lxxii. 105 The old panic-cry about a Scots invasion.
1904 N.E.D. at Panic Panic-cry.
panic-cure n.
ΚΠ
1891 Pall Mall Gaz. 3 Dec. 1/2 Mr. Goschen's one cure..for panics is to increase the gold reserves... His panic-cure depends therefore on increasing the stock of gold at ‘the centre’.
panic-flight n.
ΚΠ
1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. ii. 33 When he has..scattered your whole party in a panic-flight.
ΚΠ
1793 H. Walpole Let. to Misses Berry 7 Oct. in Lett. (1846) VI. 494 The panic-master-general.
panic measure n.
ΚΠ
1838 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. July 394 The panic measures concerted by that bank were pursued with so much harshness.
1894 Daily News 12 July 5/1 The Bill,..as a pure panic measure, must stand or fall by the general estimate of the gravity of the circumstances which have given rise to it.
1989 I. Taylor George Eliot (1990) i. 8 Panic measures were rushed through Parliament in 1819 enabling local constables to disband any gathering they considered threatening.
b. Instrumental.† panic-stunned adj. Obsolete
panic-driven adj.
ΚΠ
1814 J. H. Merivale Orlando in Roncesvalles iii. 57 Awhile on every side, as panic-driven, The outnumbering hosts recoil.
1903 Westm. Gaz. 10 Jan. 2/1 They..fall headlong over one another in panic-driven flight.
1996 Yale French Stud. 90 174 All of this happened to me in a panic-driven daze.
ΚΠ
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. xvi. 983 Panic-stunn'd he stood.
c. With the sense ‘as a result of panic’.
panic-pale adj.
ΚΠ
1883 G. Meredith Poems & Lyrics 143 How bold when skies are blue; When black winds churn the deep, how panic-pale.
1931 W. G. Robertson Life was Worth Living 294 Suddenly Lewes rushed up to them, panic pale and breathlessly exclaiming—‘My God!’
C2.
panic attack n. a sudden overwhelming feeling of acute and disabling anxiety.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > other mental illnesses
neurosis1783
mutism1824
Americanitis1882
lata1884
miryachit1884
negativism1892
obsession1892
ressentiment1896
resentment1899
pseudologia1903
echopraxia1904
complex1907
pseudo-homosexuality1908
regression1910
kleptolagnia1917
sadomasochism1919
poriomania1921
superiority complex1921
martyr complex1926
rejection1931
nemesism1938
acting out1945
catathymia1949
elective mutism1950
psychosyndrome1965
panic attack1966
Munchausen syndrome by proxy1977
Polle syndrome1977
panic disorder1978
chronic factitious disorder1980
bigorexia1985
fabricated or induced illness1994
selective mutism1999
1954 W. Mayer-Gross et al. Clin. Psychiatry ix. 381 Explosions of affect, which..take the form of attacks of panic or outbursts of aggressiveness.]
1966 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 112 789/2 A history of ‘panic attacks’ precipitated by trivial stimuli was fairly common.
1993 Men's Health Jan. 75/2 He is subject to panic attacks so extreme that his wife..seldom ventures outside a 2-mile ‘safe zone’ around their house.
panic-buy v. transitive and intransitive to buy (large quantities of a commodity) in sudden alarm at an anticipated shortage.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > buy [verb (intransitive)] > panic-buy
panic-buy1969
society > trade and finance > buying > buy [verb (transitive)] > panic-buy
panic-buy1969
1969 Times 19 Nov. 26/3 Housewives began panic buying last month after newspaper warnings of a poor crop and higher prices.
1974 Sc. Daily Express 14 Oct. 1/6 But one grocery chain manager stressed last night there was no immediate need for customers to panic buy as stocks were high and many stores' supplies were still unaffected by the strike.
1987 Daily Tel. 21 Oct. 10/6 The storm impact would mean prices could go up a little, but ‘not enough to cause people to go out and panic-buy’, she said.
panic buying n. the action of buying large quantities of a commodity in sudden alarm at an anticipated shortage.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > [noun] > panic buying
panic buying1896
scare-buying1944
1896 New Haven (Connecticut) Morning Jrnl. & Courier 14 May 8/3 (advt.) The Rice boilers, Straight sauce pans, and milk boilers are all gone, and a few more days of such panic-buying will make a memory of the greatest sale of agate-ware the Big Store ever knew.
1921 Econ. Jrnl. 31 501 The Sugar Commission did not raise the price of sugar..but lowered it to that figure from a higher one caused by panic-buying.
1942 Washington Post 23 Nov. 11/6 An anti-hoarding regulation for householders..to curb panic-buying of foods.
1974 Guardian 19 Jan. 20/2 Panic-buying would in itself lead to ‘artificial shortages’.
1997 S. Sternthal Gorbachev's Reforms 205 The ill-conceived Ryzhkov plan..to increase prices on bread (which resulted in panic buying across the country and the virtual disappearance of all goods from stores).
panic disorder n. a psychiatric disorder characterized by frequent irrational panic attacks.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > other mental illnesses
neurosis1783
mutism1824
Americanitis1882
lata1884
miryachit1884
negativism1892
obsession1892
ressentiment1896
resentment1899
pseudologia1903
echopraxia1904
complex1907
pseudo-homosexuality1908
regression1910
kleptolagnia1917
sadomasochism1919
poriomania1921
superiority complex1921
martyr complex1926
rejection1931
nemesism1938
acting out1945
catathymia1949
elective mutism1950
psychosyndrome1965
panic attack1966
Munchausen syndrome by proxy1977
Polle syndrome1977
panic disorder1978
chronic factitious disorder1980
bigorexia1985
fabricated or induced illness1994
selective mutism1999
1978 S. F. Pariser et al. in Amer. Jrnl. Psychiatry 135 246 Patients fulfilling recent criteria for anxiety neurosis and panic disorder report symptoms similar to those found in MVPS.
1999 Jrnl. Clin. Psychiatry 60 264/2 Heat stress can induce autonomic arousal, resulting in symptoms such as increased heart rate and sweating, which may precipitate a panic attack in panic disorder patients.
panicmonger n. a person who endeavours to start a panic, esp. on a political, social, or financial issue; an alarmist.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > causing apprehension or alarm > [noun] > alarm > endeavour to bring about a panic > panic-monger
panicmonger1845
1845 Times 22 Nov. 2/3 All the gloomy predictions of the (potato) panicmongers.
1894 Ld. Wolseley Life Marlborough II. 14 Sunderland succeeded in persuading James that Lewis XIV's warnings were those of the ‘panic-monger’.
1989 A. Stevenson Bitter Fame viii. 164 Sylvia was striking at familiar panicmongers, which many of her readers would subsequently identify and condemn.
panic-mongering n. alarmism.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > causing apprehension or alarm > [noun] > alarm > endeavour to bring about a panic
panic-mongering1871
1871 Times 12 Oct. 12/2 Those..who wish, by this military furore and perpetual panic-mongering, to divert your attention from political and social reforms.
1997 Independent (Nexis) 24 Mar. 13 It remains unclear whether talk of an exodus was mere panic-mongering.
panic party n. Navy (now historical) a group of crew members assigned to feign a departure in panic from a ship in order to lure or mislead an enemy; also in extended use (slang) (see quots. 1942, 1943).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > apprehension > [noun] > fright caused by alarm > feigned demonstration of alarm on decoy ship
panic party1918
1918 Times 13 Nov. 6/2 Two dazed prisoners were rescued by the exultant ‘panic party’ in the boats.
1932 ‘N. Shute’ Lonely Road vii. 144 They shelled the panic party in the boats.
1942 Sun (Sydney) 26 Aug. 4/7 A route march is an organised shemozzle, while any rush move is a panic party.
1943 J. L. Hunt & A. G. Pringle Service Slang 50 Panic party, the Naval version of a flap-on.
1964 Times 5 Oct. 12/7 The practice of putting a ‘panic party’ into the boats as soon as the enemy had opened fire.
panic room n. (a) a room intended to cause or increase panic (rare); (b) a fortified room in a house or other building, designed to be invulnerable to violent attack or intrusion, natural disasters, etc., and often equipped with video surveillance and a means of contacting emergency services (cf. Compounds 3).In sense (b), the term was popularized by its appearance as the title of a 2002 film directed by David Fincher, the plot of which is described in quot. 2000.
ΚΠ
1968 Vogue 15 Apr. 50/2 Jean Toche's demoniacal Labyrinths and Psychological Stress involved blinding lights. He devised a ‘Panic Room’ in order to redirect our aggressive drives.
2000 D. Koepp Panic Room (draft film script) 7 It's called a panic room... It's quite in vogue in higher end construction right now. One really can't be too careful about home invasion.
2002 Dwell Dec. 109/3 I do keep firearms in the house, but in the safes. And no, I do not have a panic room of my own.
2012 R. R. Rapp in A. T. Carswell Encycl. Housing (ed. 2) II. 539/2 Cautious people may find that a panic room built for protection from natural threats can help thwart attacks against themselves and their families.
panic-sell v. intransitive and transitive to sell (large quantities of a commodity) in sudden alarm at an anticipated decline in demand or drop in market value.
ΚΠ
1982 Money (Nexis) Mar. 85 When the market's down, they panic-sell. That's just when they should be buying.
1987 Daily Tel. 20 Oct. 7/2 The Timber Growers' Association urged woodland owners not to panic-sell the timber brought down in the storm.
panic selling n. the action of selling large quantities of a commodity in sudden alarm at an anticipated decline in demand or drop in market value.
ΚΠ
1875 Times 28 Oct. 7/1 It [sc. the depression] certainly was not all due to panic selling on the part of investors in Egyptian stocks.
1949 Amer. Econ. Rev. 39 1280 The amount of support required was greatly enhanced by panic selling, provoked by fear of further price declines.
2001 PC Gamer Oct. 49/2 This typically leads..to panic-selling as businesses are hawked off in a hurry as the clock ticks down.
panic session n. U.S. History (also with capital initials) the first session of the Twenty-third Congress in 1833, so called because it was convened at a time of widespread financial panic.
ΚΠ
1835 Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pa.) 16 June 1/3 His celebrated anti bank report, made during the panic session of our Legislature in 1833–4.
1854 T. H. Benton Thirty Years' View I. 369/2 On the second day of December, 1833, commenced the first session of the Twenty-third Congress, commonly called the Panic Session.
1974 Amer. Hist. Rev. 79 576/2 His term as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee during the ‘panic session’, when removal of deposits from the Bank of the United States was the main issue.
panic stations n. colloquial (originally British Navy) (with plural agreement) a state of high alert or activity in response to an emergency; a state of general alarm or panic.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > apprehension > [noun] > panic
frightnessc1425
amaze1587
amazedness1587
terrification1601
panic1640
sauve-qui-peut1815
panic stations1918
tailspin1921
1918 Times 13 Nov. 6/1 Immediately after the explosion ‘Panic stations’ was ordered, followed in due course by ‘Abandon ship’.
1953 Times 29 July 9/2 The left-handed Harvey took control to such effect that England's fieldsmen assumed panic stations around the boundary.
1963 ‘J. Prescot’ Case for Hearing iii. 53 Someone has been into Greenwood's again..and got away with another three hundred... The police seem to be at panic stations about it.
1994 J. Kelman How Late it Was 10 It felt okay, an initial wee flurry of excitement but no what ye would call panic-stations.
panic-stricken adj. affected or overwhelmed with panic.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > apprehension > [adjective] > of or pert to panic(s) > panic-stricken
panic1642
panic-stricken1766
panic-struck1776
panicky1862
panicked1916
1766 H. Brooke Fool of Quality II. x. 151 The ladder was soon brought, and this panic-stricken family were helped down and charitably conducted to the great inn.
1859 W. Collins Queen of Hearts I. 57 Owen and I looked at one another in panic-stricken silence.
1904 Minneapolis Times 23 June 8 The orchestra in a Georgia theatre quieted a panic-stricken crowd by playing ‘Dixie’.
2001 Daily Tel. 11 June 27/1 There will be those who recommend in a panic-stricken way that the Tory party steals Labour clothes.
panic-strike v. transitive to strike panic into (now chiefly in passive).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > causing apprehension or alarm > alarm [verb (transitive)] > affect with panic
panic-strike1780
panic1827
1780 in William & Mary Q. (1979) 36 179 Panic-struck by the Noise and Terror of a Battle which was entirely New to most of us; We..were so unhappy as to abandon the Field of Battle.
1798 Lady Hunter Let. in M. Hunter Jrnl. (1894) 122 Our formidable appearance panic-struck them, and they were moving off.
1898 G. F. R. Henderson Stonewall Jackson I. xi. 448 They need only a movement on the flank to panic-strike them.
2000 Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) (Nexis) 25 Aug. 35 The industry was panic-struck by the flood of customers shunning the showrooms and importing cars..at thousands of pounds cheaper than they could buy it here.
panic-striking adj. now rare causing or likely to cause panic or a panic.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > causing apprehension or alarm > [adjective] > alarming > causing or likely to cause panic
panic-striking1810
1810 M. F. Johnson Rumour in Orig. Sonnets 44 See busy Rumour rise, and round her spread Uncertain hopes and panic-striking dread.
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick xciii. 459 Pip loved life, and all life's peaceable securities; so that the panic-striking business in which he had somehow unaccountably become entrapped, had most sadly blurred his brightness.
1949 E. M. Butler tr. in Ritual Magic i. i. 9 Terrestrial overlords, globe-shaking,..terror-strangling, panic-striking, spindle-turning.
panic-struck adj. = panic-stricken adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > apprehension > [adjective] > of or pert to panic(s) > panic-stricken
panic1642
panic-stricken1766
panic-struck1776
panicky1862
panicked1916
1776 J. Thacher Mil. Jrnl. (1823) 70 [Washington] made every effort to rally them, but without success; they were so panic struck that even the shadow of an enemy seemed to increase their precipitate flight.
1851 T. A. Buckley tr. Homer Iliad vii. 130 A panic-struck and turbulent council.
1988 P. C. Doherty Crown in Darkness (BNC) (1991) 90 He heard Ranulf's panic-struck voice.
C3. Designating devices, fittings, etc., designed to be operated or activated in the event of an emergency, as panic bar, panic bolt, etc. See also panic button n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > closed or shut condition > that which or one who closes or shuts > [noun] > bolt or bar
shuttle971
barc1175
esselc1275
slota1300
sperel13..
ginc1330
staple-bar1339
shotc1430
shuttingc1440
shutc1460
spar1596
counter-bar1611
shooter1632
drawbar1670
night bolt1775
drop-bolt1786
snibbing-bolt1844
stay-band1844
window bar1853
heck-stower1876
barrel bolt1909
latch bolt1909
panic bolt1911
1911 Times 19 Jan. 10/2 Separate provision has also been made for ‘panic’ lights, separately controlled, in various parts of the buildings.
1920 Telephone & Telegraph Jrnl. 4 81/1 Swing doors with ‘panic bolts’.
1921 Flight 13 264/2 Seven emergency or panic doors are provided on the ground floor.
1972 Straits Times 27 Nov. 17/3 Panic locks should be fitted so that they could be opened easily from the inside but are always locked from the outside.
1981 Coal (Nexis) June 178 A fire suppression system, integral lighting, on/off button at tram and operator stations and a panic bar at all stations.
1991 Which? Dec. 701/1 The panic handles on closed doors had clear, concise instructions.
Derivatives
panicful adj. full of panic, fearful.
ΚΠ
1800 C. B. Brown Arthur Mervyn II. xxv. 238 Nothing less than madness could lead into such devious tracts, drag me down to so hopeless, helpless, panickful a depth.
1904 Advocate (Victoria, Texas) 30 Jan. An act..the enforcement of which would not prove generally panicful to the business interests of the nation.
1978 T. N. Reddy India Mortgaged xvi. 366 A housewife, terror-stricken appeals: ‘I pray to all: save us from the impending massacre’... What was the reason for her panicful prayer?
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
panicv.
/ˈpanɪk/, U.S. /ˈpænɪk/ rare before 20th cent.
1. transitive. To affect with panic; to scare into a hasty or rash action.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > causing apprehension or alarm > alarm [verb (transitive)] > affect with panic
panic-strike1780
panic1827
1827 T. Hood Hero & Leander xlii, in Plea Midsummer Fairies & Other Poems 83 The crew..Struck pale and panick'd by the billows' roar.
1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 184 Nothing seems to panic the Boche more than a sudden swoop by a low-flying aeroplane.
1932 R. Kipling Limits & Renewals 169 Then I'd come round the corner and hailed him, and that panicked him.
1957 Economist 30 Nov. 795/1 The markets are healthy and not likely to be panicked into headlong fall.
1990 Today 12 Mar. 15 Foot-in-the-door salesmen..are trying to panic people into borrowing money.
2002 Washington Post 18 Feb. (Home ed.) a10/1 Last fall's bioterrorist attacks..left five people dead, hobbled the U.S. postal system and panicked the nation.
2. intransitive. To give way to panic; to get into a panic; to lose one's head.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > apprehension > be apprehensive [verb (intransitive)] > panic or lose one's head
panic1910
to run scared1944
1910 R. Kipling in Pearson's Mag. Oct. 360/2 Jules was, so to speak, panicking in a water-tight flat through his unfortunate lack of language.
1930 J. Cannan No Walls of Jasper 196 Martin helped Phyl to unpack. All at once she panicked, rummaging wildly among the paper in the tea-basket and saying, ‘Good heavens, Martin! there's no sugar for his tea!’
1987 J. Franklin Molecules of Mind (1988) xix. 257 We panicked. Something was wrong, horribly wrong. Dioxin! Three Mile Island!
2002 Independent 8 Mar. (Mag.) 18/2 When the breach order came through his letterbox, he panicked, and disappeared.
3. transitive. U.S. slang. To make (an audience) enthusiastic; to excite, impress, or amuse greatly. Cf. panic adj. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > excitement > pleasurable excitement > affect with pleasurable excitement [verb (transitive)] > give thrill of pleasurable excitement to
dirl1513
slay1863
razzle-dazzle1886
to turn on1903
panic1920
wow1924
kill1938
to knock out1942
fracture1946
gas1947
stoke1963
1920 H. C. Witwer Leather Pushers 338 In the tenth round Kid Roberts made a dyin' rally that panicked the already hysterical mob.
1925 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 3 Jan. 14 He can make a pic outta the..book that'll panic 'em.
1960 F. Astaire Steps in Time xi. 110 After a while they were singing ‘Oompah-Oompah-Oompah’ with the music... Adele absolutely panicked 'em.
1981 A. O'Day & G. Eells High Times, Hard Times 74 Anita O'Day..panicked the house as she took the stand for a dozen encores.
Derivatives
ˈpanicking adj. and n.
ΚΠ
1933 C. Day Lewis in M. Roberts New Country 41 An improvement of conditions which you may find it difficult to dismiss as mere sops thrown by a panicking ‘boss-class’.
1940 Times 2 Mar. 5/2 There was no panicking on the few occasions when air-raid warnings sounded in the district.
1945 A. Bryant Years of Victory iv. 80 No panicking by the public, no pleas from his colleagues had been able to stampede the stout old sailor into [etc.].
1980 Economist (Nexis) 29 Nov. 39 Upper doors locked automatically to trap the panicking guests.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1?1440
adj.n.2a1586
v.1827- shuttlebearer
- shuttlebone
- shuttlebox
- shuttlecarrier
- shuttlecock
- shuttlecock-maker
- shuttlecocked
- shuttlecocking
- shuttlecockmaker
- shuttlecocks
- shuttlecork
- shuttlecrab
- shuttlecraft
- shuttled
- shuttledriver
- shuttlekissing
- shuttleless
- shuttlemaker
- shuttlepin
- shuttleprick
- shuttlequill
- shuttler
- shuttlerace
- shuttlers
- shuttles