Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1971 (DOST Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Mad, a. Also: mad(d)e, maid. [ME. mad(d, also north. med(d (Cursor M.), OE. ᵹemǽd(e)d p.p. of *ᵹemǽdan f. ᵹemád ‘foolish, senseless, mad’.]

1. Emotionally upset, distressed, troubled; dismayed, taken aback, confounded; bewildered, dazed.(1) a1400 Leg. S. xvi. 326.
Scho franyt quhy he ves sa mad Ib. xxx. 129.
Thu art nov pensiwe & mad & wont wes to be blith & glad ?1438 Alex. ii. 9841.
His battale than men mycht haue sene … abaisit and mad, And Porrus battall blyth and glaid c1420 Wynt. vii. 96.
The knycht … Hys wysage worthyd wan As he had bene rycht a mad man a1500 Henr. Fab. 510 (Bass.).
Ȝe be to mad for him sic murning mais a1500 Rauf C. 441.
I am bot ane mad man, that thow hes heir met, I haue na myster to matche with maisterfull men 1501 Doug. Pal. Hon. 1953.
Thy mad hart c1500-c1512 Dunb. xix. 12.
Gife I be sorrowfull and sad, Than will thay say that I am mad, Ido bot drowpe as I wald de 1535 Stewart 11323.
Rycht sad he wes and sorrowfull for that thing; And mad in mynd with dirk and havie cheir 1567 G. Ball. 206.
Of lait I saw thir lymmaris stand, Lyke mad men at mischeif(2) a1400 Leg. S. xxxi. 530.
[He] lewit hir thar mad & mat Ib. xxxiii. 746.
He wes mat & mad [:had] & disconfyt vtrely Be George & his sorcery c1420 Wynt. vii. 142.
The lordis … Feld thame … In peryle and in hard dowt stad Off a gud rede all mate and made

b. transf. Full of or expressing distress or dismay, sorrowful, wretched. ?1438 Alex. ii. 7778.
Thay went furth, quhen thay leuit war, With mad murning and sichingis sare 1535 Stewart 14183.
Quhen sair seiknes … Commix[i]t is with mad melancolie Ib. 43005, 56928.
Mad murning c1552 Lynd. Mon. 240.
This murnyng mater, mad and miserabyll

2. Beside oneself with rage, pain, shock or the like; angry, enraged; frantic, distracted; astounded. Passing into: Out of one's senses, deranged, insane, frenzied. ?1438 Alex. ii. 3647.
Be nocht mad, All-thocht I bourd to mak ws glaid c1475 Wall. vii. 446.
Mad folk with fyr hampryt in mony hauld 1513 Doug. ii. x. 65.
Son, quha sa … ondantit ire has rasyt in thé? Quhy gois thou mad? Ib. iv. vi. 1.
Than Ene half mad [L. amens] and dum stude als a1568 Bann. MS. 44 b/49.
Be nocht ouir mad attour mesour Nor ȝit ouir meik in thy moving 1560 Rolland Seven S. 5762.
All that hir saw beleuit that scho had went Quyte out of minde and as ane bodie mad 1572 Buch. Detect. A. v. b.
Scho flingis away in haist lyke ane mad woman a1578 Pitsc. II. 6 note 4.
[They] ragit in furie as thay had bene men made and by thair mynd 1595 Culross I. 133.
Men … in lyning claths feinȝeng thame to be mad 1606 Inverness Rec. II. 40.
Maid 1629 Justiciary Cases I. 113.
Repoirtit … be the said Wm. Smyth quha ran maid in the seiknes laid upone him 1633 Misc. Abbotsf. C. 161.
Therafter keist the said dog mad 1657 Balfour Ann. I. 134.
[In] 1392, the French king … throughe anger and distemper of his braine fell made

b. ? Wildly foolish, uncontrolled by reason, extravagant, wild. a1500 Colk. Sow Proh. 50.
Pardoun the fulich face of this mad metir Ib. i. 385, Ib. ii. 1.
All thair dansis and play Thay movit in thair mad muting Ib. i. 454.
For he faucht wichtly with Wad And with Melliager mad

c. transf. to a wild or violent battle. 1535 Stewart 11966. Ib. 27774.
Had nocht the Almanis … Reskewit thame into that mad mellie

3. Stupid, silly, idiotic; confused, misguided, deluded. c1475 Wall. x. 126.
I war to mad to leyff [1570, to tyne it] on sic wys c1500-c1512 Dunb. Tua Mar. W. 279.
In to my mynd makand mokis at that mad fader, Trowand me with trew lufe to treit him so fair 1513 Doug. i. Prol. 222.
Caxtoun … bot he had beyn mad, … Touyr for Tibir he had nocht write 1562-3 Winȝet I. 5/24.
Hes not mony throw inlak of techement in mad ignorance mysknawin thair deuty c1568 Lauder Minor P. i. 267.
I compt thame daft and mekill wors nor mad That laykis this gift c1590 Fowler I. 85/211.
That which maid foolish men Callis vglie death a1599 Rollock II. 116.
[In Titus iii. 3,] Paul … calls a natural man a mad man; albeit he were never so discreet, he is mad