panic definition | Dictionary.com

pan⋅ic

1 [pan-ik]

noun, adjective, verb, -icked, -ick⋅ing.

–noun

1.	a sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads quickly through a group of persons or animals.

2.	an instance, outbreak, or period of such fear.

3.	Finance. a sudden widespread fear concerning financial affairs leading to credit contraction and widespread sale of securities at depressed prices in an effort to acquire cash.

4.	Slang. someone or something that is considered hilariously funny: The comedian was an absolute panic.

–adjective

5.	of the nature of, caused by, or indicating panic: A wave of panic buying shook the stock market.

6.	(of fear, terror, etc.) suddenly destroying the self-control and impelling to some frantic action.

7.	(initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the god Pan.

–verb (used with object)

8.	to affect with panic; terrify and cause to flee or lose self-control.

9.	Slang. to keep (an audience or the like) highly amused.

–verb (used without object)

10.	to be stricken with panic; become frantic with fear: The herd panicked and stampeded.

Origin:
1595–1605; earlier panique < F < Gk Panikós of Pan; see -ic

Related forms:

pan⋅ick⋅y, adjective

Synonyms:
1. alarm. See terror.

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pan⋅ic

2 [pan-ik]

–noun

1.	Also called panic grass. any grass of the genus Panicum, many species of which bear edible grain.

2.	the grain.

Origin:
1375–1425; late ME < L pānicum a kind of millet

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To panic

pan·ic (pān'ĭk)

A sudden, overpowering terror, often affecting many people at once. See Synonyms at fear.
A sudden widespread alarm concerning finances, often resulting in a rush to sell property: a stock-market panic.
Slang One that is uproariously funny.

adj.

Of, relating to, or resulting from sudden, overwhelming terror: panic flight.
Of or resulting from a financial panic: panic selling of securities.
often Panic Mythology Of or relating to Pan.

tr. & intr.v. pan·icked, pan·ick·ing, pan·ics
To affect or be affected with panic. See Synonyms at frighten.

[From French panique, terrified, from Greek Pānikos, of Pan (a source of terror, as in flocks or herds), groundless (used of fear), from Pān, Pan; see Pan.]
pan'ick·y adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Panic

Pan"ic\, n. [L. panicum.] (Bot.) A plant of the genus Panicum; panic grass; also, the edible grain of some species of panic grass.

Panic grass (Bot.), any grass of the genus Panicum.

Panic

Pan"ic\, a. [Gr. ? of or pertaining to ? Pan, to whom the causing of sudden fright was ascribed: cf. F. panique.] Extreme or sudden and causeless; unreasonable; -- said of fear or fright; as, panic fear, terror, alarm. "A panic fright." --Dryden.

Panic

Pan"ic\, n. [Gr. ? (with or without ? fear): cf. F. panigue. See Panic, a.]

1. A sudden, overpowering fright; esp., a sudden and groundless fright; terror inspired by a trifling cause or a misapprehension of danger; as, the troops were seized with a panic; they fled in a panic.

2. By extension: A sudden widespread fright or apprehension concerning financial affairs.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : panic

Spanish: pánico,

German: die Panik,

Japanese: パニック

More Translations »

panic (1)

"mass terror," 1603, as an adj. (with fear, terror, etc.), from Fr. panique (15c.), from Gk. panikon, lit. "pertaining to Pan," in sense of "panic, fright" short for panikon deima, from neut. of Panikos "of Pan," the god of woods and fields who was the source of mysterious sounds that caused contagious, groundless fear in herds and crowds, or in people in lonely spots. As a noun, first recorded 1708. Meaning "widespread apprehension about financial matters" is first recorded 1757. The verb is 1827, from the noun. Panicky is first recorded 1869. Panic button in fig. sense is first recorded 1955, the literal sense apparently is from parachuting.

panic (2)

"type of grass," c.1420, from O.Fr. panic "Italian millet," from L. panicum "kind of millet," from panus "ear of millet, a swelling," of unknown origin.

Main Entry: ¹pan·ic
Pronunciation: 'pan-ik
Function: noun
: a sudden overpowering fright; especially : a sudden unreasoningterror often accompanied by mass flight

Main Entry: ²panic
Function: verb
Inflected Form: pan·icked /-ikt/; pan·ick·ing
transitive senses
: to affect with panic panic intransitive senses
: to be affected with panic

panic pan·ic (pān'ĭk)
n.
A sudden overpowering feeling of terror.

pan'ic v.

panic
1. What Unix does when a critical internal consistency checks fails in such a way that Unix cannot continue. The kernel attempts to print a short message on the console and write an image of memory into the swap area on disk. This can be analysed later using adb. The kernel will then either wait in a tight loop until the machine is rebooted or will initiate an automatic reboot.
Unix manual page: panic(8).
2. Action taken by software which discovers some fatal problem which prevents it from continuing to run.
(1995-03-01)

panic

see push the panic button.

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