Madding - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

mad·ding

Audio Help [mad-ing] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	acting madly or senselessly; insane; frenzied: a quiet place far from the madding crowd.

2.	making mad: a madding grief.

[Origin: 1300–50; ME. See mad (v.), -ing²

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Madding

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

mad

Audio Help [mad] Pronunciation Key adjective, mad·der, mad·dest, noun, verb, mad·ded, mad·ding.

–adjective

1.	mentally disturbed; deranged; insane; demented.

2.	enraged; greatly provoked or irritated; angry.

(of animals)

a.	abnormally furious; ferocious: a mad bull.

b.	affected with rabies; rabid: a mad dog.

4.	extremely foolish or unwise; imprudent; irrational: a mad scheme to invade France.

5.	wildly excited or confused: frantic: mad haste.

6.	overcome by desire, eagerness, enthusiasm, etc.; excessively or uncontrollably fond; infatuated: He's mad about the opera.

7.	wildly gay or merry; enjoyably hilarious: to have a mad time at the Mardi Gras.

8.	(of wind, storms, etc.) furious in violence: A mad gale swept across the channel.

–noun

9.	an angry or ill-tempered period, mood, or spell: The last time he had a mad on, it lasted for days.

–verb (used with object)

10.	Archaic. to make mad.

–verb (used without object)

11.	Archaic. to be, become, or act mad.

—Idioms

12.	like mad, Informal. with great haste, impulsiveness, energy, or enthusiasm: She ran like mad to catch the bus.

13.	mad as a hatter, completely insane.

[Origin: bef. 900; ME mad (adj.), madden (intrans. v., deriv. of the adj.); OE gemǣd(e)d, ptp. of *gemǣdan to make mad, akin to gemād mad, foolish; c. OS geméd, OHG gimeit foolish

]

—Synonyms 1. lunatic, maniacal, crazed, crazy. 2. furious, exasperated, raging, wrathful, irate. 4. ill-advised; unsafe, dangerous, perilous. Mad, crazy, insane are used to characterize wildly impractical or foolish ideas, actions, etc. Mad suggests senselessness and excess: The scheme of buying the bridge was absolutely mad. In informal usage, crazy suggests recklessness and impracticality: a crazy young couple. Insane is used with some opprobrium to express unsoundness and possible harmfulness: The new traffic system is simply insane. 5. frenzied.

—Antonyms 4. sensible, practical; sound, safe.

—Usage note Mad meaning “enraged, angry” has been used since 1300, and this sense is a very common one. Because some teachers and usage critics insist that the only correct meaning of mad is “mentally disturbed, insane,” mad is often replaced by angry in formal contexts: The President is angry at Congress for overriding his veto.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

mad Audio Help (mād) Pronunciation Key
adj. mad·der, mad·dest

Angry; resentful. See Synonyms at angry.
Suffering from a disorder of the mind; insane.
Temporarily or apparently deranged by violent sensations, emotions, or ideas: mad with jealousy.
Lacking restraint or reason; foolish: I was mad to have hired her in the first place.
Feeling or showing strong liking or enthusiasm: mad about sports.
Marked by extreme excitement, confusion, or agitation; frantic: a mad scramble for the bus.
Boisterously gay; hilarious: had a mad time.
Affected by rabies; rabid.

tr. & intr.v. mad·ded, mad·ding, mads
To make or become mad; madden.

[Middle English, from Old English gemǣdde, past participle of *gemǣdan, to madden, from gemād, insane; see mei-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

mad'dish adj.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

mad·ding Audio Help (mād'ĭng) Pronunciation Key
adj. Archaic
In a state of frenzy; frenzied: "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife" (Thomas Gray).

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
madding

action of the obs. verb mad "to make insane," c.1300; now principally in the phrase far from the madding crowd, title of a novel by Hardy (1874), who lifted it from a line of Gray's "Elegy" (1749), which seems to echo a line from Drummond of Hawthornden from 1614.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Madding

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.

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