| 释义 |
frantic, a. and n.|ˈfræntɪk|
Forms: α. 4–5 frentik(e, -tyk(e, 6 phrentique, 6–7 fren-, phrenti(c)k(e. β. 4–6 frantyk(e, 6–8 franti(c)k(e, 6 frantycke, -tique, (6 phrantic), 7– frantic.
[ME. frentik, frantik, a. OF. frenetique (mod.F. frénétique), ad. late L. phrenēticus delirious (see phrenetic), a corruption of Gr. ϕρενιτικός affected with ϕρενῖτις delirium: see frenzy.]
A. adj.
1. Affected with mental disease, lunatic, insane; in later use, violently or ragingly mad. Now rare.
α1362Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 6 ‘Wel artou witti’, quod heo ‘wisdom to telle To fayturs or to fooles that frentik [B. x. 6 frantyk] ben of wittes!’ 1401Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 85, I do the wel to wite, frentike I am not. 1467J. Paston in Paston Lett. No. 569 II. 299 As for John Appylby, he is half frentyk. 1586Bright Melanch. xi. 52, I..haue obserued..in phrenticke persons the strength doubled vpon them. 1644Digby Nat. Bodies (1645) i. 413, I have seene some frenticke persons, that [etc.].
β1398Trevisa Barth. De P. R. v. xxiii. (1495) 132 Also by..acorde of musyk seke men and frantyk come ofte to theyr wytte ayen and helthe of body. c1420Chron. Vilod. 587 Frantyke men hadden þer hurre wytte. 1542Boorde Dyetary xxxvii. (1870) 298 Euery man the whiche is madde, or lunatycke, or frantycke. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq. Apol. 562 It makes you look like a Company of Frantick men or Dæmoniacks. 1852A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. 240 His father, believing him frantic, shut him [St. Francis of Assisi] up and bound him in his chamber.
absol.1787Cowper Lett. 24 Dec., All the frantic who have been restored to their reason.
2. transf.
a. Affected by wild and ungovernable excitement; ‘mad’ with rage, pain, grief, etc. † Also, in early use, applied as a term of reproach imputing extreme folly (cf. the variation in the shades of the lit. sense 1).
[c1477Caxton Jason 56 b, He was so angry that he semed better frantyk..thenne other wise. a1547Surrey æneid ii. 410 And thus as phrentik to our gates he ran.] 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. xiii. (1634) 56 There be risen up certaine phrenticke men as Servetto and other like. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 420 The furious Mare..is frantick with Despair. 1732Law Serious C. v. (ed. 2) 73 That they must be grave and solemn at Church, but may be silly and frantick at home. 1822W. Irving Braceb. Hall xvi. 140 Julia, pale, bleeding..supported in the arms of her frantic lover. a1839Praed Poems (1864) II. 204 Miss Jonquil was perfectly frantic. 1881‘Rita’ My Lady Coquette xii, His Aunt and Cousin are frantic with fear.
fig.1602Marston Ant. & Mel. i. Wks. 1856 I. 17 A heart..Raging more wilde then is this franticke sea. 1798Frere in Anti-Jacobin vii. 24 War with herself see frantic Gallia wage. 1870Bryant Iliad I. v. 176 Fiery, frantic Mars, the unnatural plague Of man.
b. colloq. In exaggerated use = ‘terrific’, ‘awful’.
1908Punch 26 Feb. 152/2 I'm working simply most awfully hard for Ireland just now. I've bought a ghastly heap of poplin..and a frantic lot of Limerick lace.
3.
†a. Of a disease: Attended by frenzy or delirium (obs.).
b. Pertaining to, characterized by, or displaying frenzy; delirious, wild; † insanely foolish.
α1565J. Calfhill Answ. Treat. Crosse 32 b, Ye shal see it proued in plain words, a frentike part to worship Images. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 267 It is more grievous then y⊇ phrentique sicknesse of madnesse. 1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. iii. viii. 144 Esteeming in the phrentique error of their mindes the greatest madnes in the world to be wisedome.
βa1533Frith Disput. Purgat. Prol. (1829) 93 The ignorant people..was fallen into that frantic imagination that [etc.]. 1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. 666 There are (as I take it) two causes intermingled, which breede this franticke feaver of our France, the one proceeding from the estate, the other from religion. 1589Cogan Haven Health ccxliii. 264 Strange Agewes arise, raging continuall, burning, phrantike. 1632Lithgow Trav. iv. 150 For in a franticke piety they cause a Smith to pull forth their eyes. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. xlviii. 47 She displayed a frantic and impotent rage. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 142 The royal captives..were slowly moved along, amidst the horrid yells..and frantick dances..of the furies of hell. 1814Southey Roderick i. 81 He threw his hands aloft in frantic prayer. 1879Dixon Windsor II. xii. 129 His welcome by the citizens was frantic.
†4. quasi-adv. Frantically. Obs. rare.
c1600Shakes. Sonn. cxlvii, Past cure I am..And frantic mad with evermore unrest. a1652Brome Queene's Exch. iii. i. Wks. 1873 III. 497, I fear he's brain-crack'd, lunatick, and Frantick mad.
5. Comb., as † frantic-headed, † frantic-like adjs.
1558T. Phaer æneid iv. 647 Her golden heare she tare and frantiklyke with moode opprest, She cried, O Iupiter [etc.]. 1640Bp. Hall Episc. ii. xix. 199 ærius saith he was a man frantick-headed, proud-minded.
†B. n. One who is frantic or frenzied; a lunatic, a delirious patient. Obs.
αc1380Wyclif Serm. x. Sel. Wks. I. 26 Resoun shulde teche hem þat þei ben worse þan frentikes. 1565Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 106 Persons Excommunicate, Infants, Phrentickes, and Mad Men. 1616B. Jonson Devil an Ass iv. vi, You did neuer heare A Phrentick, so in loue with his owne fauour! 1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth ii. 88 The world was little better than a common fold of Phrenticks and Bedlams.
β1574J. Jones Nat. Beginning Grow. Things 34 Idiots, Dolts, Lunatikes, Frantikes, and blockheads. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xxiii. §99 He was esteemed as a frantick, and sent to the Marshal-See for a Lunaticke foole. 1669Penn No Cross Wks. 1782 II. 96 Being slighted of them for a ninny, a fool, a frantick [etc.]. 1758Jortin Erasm. I. 192 The combustions raised by these Frantics.
Hence † ˈfrantic v. intr., to move frantically.
1635Quarles Embl. v. iv. (1818) 270 Like to the arctic needle, that..First frantic's up and down from side to side, And restless heats his crystal ivory case. |