an acute viral disease of the nervous system of warm-blooded animals (usually transmitted by the bite of a rabid animal); rabies is fatal if the virus reaches the brain [syn: rabies]
3.
a feeling of intense anger; "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"; "his face turned red with rage" [syn: fury]
4.
the quality of being rash and foolish; "trying to drive through a blizzard is the height of folly"; "adjusting to an insane society is total foolishness" [syn: folly]
5.
unrestrained excitement or enthusiasm; "poetry is a sort of divine madness"
Main Entry: mad·ness Pronunciation: 'mad-n&s Function: noun 1:INSANITY 2: any of several ailments of animals marked by frenzied behavior; specifically:RABIES
In*san"i*ty\, n. [L. insanitas unsoundness; cf. insania insanity, F. insanite.]1. The state of being insane; unsoundness or derangement of mind; madness; lunacy. All power of fancy overreason is a degree of insanity. --Johnson. Without grace The heart's insanity admits no cure. --Cowper. 2. (Law) Such a mental condition, as, either from the existence of delusions, or from incapacity to distinguish between right and wrong, with regard to any matter under action, does away with individual responsibility. Syn: Syn>- Insanity, Lunacy, Madness, Derangement, Aliention, Aberration, Mania, Delirium, Frenzy, Monomania, Dementia. Usage: Insanity is the generic term for all such diseases; lunacy has now an equal extent of meaning, though once used to denote periodical insanity; madness has the same extent, though originally referring to the rage created by the disease; derangement, alienation, are popular terms for insanity; delirium, mania, and frenzy denote excited states of the disease; dementia denotes the loss of mental power by this means; monomania is insanity upon a single subject.
This word is used in its proper sense in Deut. 28:34, John 10:20, 1 Cor. 14:23. It also denotes a reckless state of mind arising from various causes, as over-study (Eccl. 1:17; 2:12), blind rage (Luke 6:11), or a depraved temper (Eccl. 7:25; 9:3; 2 Pet. 2:16). David feigned madness (1 Sam. 21:13) at Gath because he "was sore afraid of Achish."
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