furyn.
/ˈfjʊəri/, /ˈfjɔːri/, U.S. /ˈfjuri/ 1.
a. Fierce passion, disorder or tumult of mind approaching madness; esp. wild anger, frenzied rage; also, a fit or access of such passion.The plural is sometimes used in imitation of French furies or Latin furiæ.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > violent emotion > [noun]
woodnessc1000
furyc1374
ferteec1380
ragea1393
violencea1393
excess1423
zeala1425
vehemence1445
extremity1509
franticnessa1529
vehemency1534
wildnessc1540
impotency1542
violent1576
distraughture1594
distraught1610
distractiona1616
distractedness?1617
entrancement1637
distractfulnessa1640
impotencea1640
transportment1639
transportednessa1656
violent1667
whirl1707
rave1765
Sturm und Drang1857
storm and stress1879
the mind > emotion > violent emotion > [noun] > fit of violent emotion
furyc1374
ecstasyc1384
ethroclytes1485
extremity1509
vehemency1612
rapturea1616
rapture1620
fit1654
transport1658
vehemence1741
orgasma1763
rave1765
rampage1860
brainstorm1861
tear1880
maenadism1883
the mind > emotion > anger > furious anger > [noun]
foamc900
wrethec950
woodnessc1000
eyec1175
wrathc1175
grim13..
ragingc1300
ragec1325
furyc1374
fiercetya1382
fiercenessc1384
wrotha1400
grindellaikc1400
rasedheadc1450
furor1477
windc1485
furiousnessc1500
enrage1502
furiosity1509
passion1524
ourningc1540
enragement1596
enragedness1611
transportation1617
emportment1663
madness1663
foaming1709
infuriation1848
the mind > emotion > anger > furious anger > [noun] > instance or fit of furious anger
wratha1200
ragec1325
furyc1374
paroxysm1578
rapturea1616
orgasma1763
ramp1798
c1374 G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde iv. 817 (845) Anoy, smert, drede, fury and eek siknesse.
c1374 G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde v. 212 To bedde he goth and weyleth there and torneth In furie, as dooth he, Ixion, in helle.
c1430 J. Lydgate Minor Poems 206 Sobre and appeese suche folk as falle in furye.
1491 Act 7 Hen. VII c. 15 Certeyn persones..murdred..in an outrageous hedy furey..John Mountagu late Erle of Sarum.
1564 in F. J. Furnivall Child-marriages, Divorces, & Ratifications Diocese Chester (1897) 123 Biecause the wordes were spoken in a furye.
1611 Bible (King James) Gen. xxvii. 44 Tary with him a few dayes, vntill thy brothers furie turne away. View more context for this quotation
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy iii. iv. i. i. 706 As Plato doth in his Conuiuio, make mention of two distinct furies, and amongst our Neotericks, Hercules de Saxonia..doth expresly treat of it [sc. religious melancholy], as a distinct Species.
a1683 A. Sidney Disc. Govt. (1704) i. xix. 46 A Poison that would fill the gentlest Spirits with the most violent Furys.
1692 tr. C. de Saint-Évremond Misc. Ess. 351 He..fell into such strange Furies, that [etc.].
1705 F. Fuller Medicina Gymnastica 163 'Tis the first Fury that is the most Dangerous and Violent.
1713 A. Pope Narr. Robert Norris 22 He flung down the Book in a terrible Fury.
1756 E. Burke Vindic. Nat. Society 43 When Alexander had in his Fury inhumanly butchered one of his best Friends.
1866 J. Conington tr. Virgil Æneid xii. 410 Such furies in his bosom rise.
1879 F. W. Farrar Life & Work St. Paul I. ii. viii. 162 He could hardly have addressed them in words more calculated to kindle their fury.
b. of beasts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by nature > [noun] > wild animal > fierceness
rethenesseOE
wildshipc1275
wildnessc1440
fury1597
ramageness1607
viciousness1774
the mind > emotion > anger > furious anger > [noun] > fury of beasts
fury1597
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet iii. iii. 110 Thy wilde actes denote The vnresonable furyes of a beast. View more context for this quotation
1611 Bible (King James) Wisd. vii. 20 The natures of liuing creatures, and the furies of wilde beasts.
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 298 A large Camel raging with Lust for the Female..This Fury lasts Forty Days.
1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. vii. 133 Unable to defend himself from..the Fury of wild Beasts.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth IV. 288 In such a case, there was no method of appeasing its fury, but by giving it something to eat.
2.
a. Fierce impetuosity or violence; esp. warlike rage, fierceness in conflict, attack, or the like. †Rarely, fierce cruelty.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > harmfulness > savagery > [noun]
rethenesseOE
grimcundleȝcc1175
fellhead1340
ferteec1380
fiercenessc1384
savagenessa1400
grimliness14..
fellnessc1410
bestialitya1413
fierceheadc1440
cruelness?a1475
inhumanity1477
bremeness?1529
fury1534
tigerness1535
bruteness1538
immanity1539
wolvishness?1548
ferity?c1550
brutishness1567
truculency1569
Phalarism1581
ferocity1606
savagerya1616
brutality1633
inhumanness1649
wolfishness1676
boarishness1682
brutism1687
truculence1727
ferociousness1766
bestialism1824
tigerhood1846
Calibanism1859
unhumanness1885
inhumanism1907
Hunnishness1914
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > violent behaviour > [noun] > fierce or furious
woodnessc1000
fiercetya1382
furiosity1509
bremeness?1529
fury1534
carnage1902
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > ill-treatment > cruelty > [noun] > fierce
fury1534
1534 T. Elyot tr. Isocrates Doctr. Princes 9 b Dooe thou nothyng in furie, sens other men knowe what time and occasion is meetest for the.
1553 J. Brende tr. Q. Curtius Rufus Hist. iv. f. 42v Twoo thousand whome the furye of the slaughter had lefte on lyue.
1601 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Trauellers Breuiat 33 In assaulting of townes and fortresses, I confesse furie to be of great moment.
1630 tr. G. Botero Relations Famous Kingdomes World (rev. ed.) 13 If ever your eares heard of more hellish furies than those which these Princes have put in execution.
1712 A. Pope in Spectator No. 408. 'Tis fit the Fury of the Coursers should not be too great for the Strength of the Charioteer.
1726 W. R. Chetwood Voy. & Adventures Capt. R. Boyle 155 The Fight continu'd half an Hour with the utmost Fury.
1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) I. xv. 101 The extremes of alternate indolence or fury..have governed your whole administration.
1805 W. Scott Lay of Last Minstrel i. vii. 13 The furies of the Border war.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits iv. 76 To hunt with fury..all the game that is in nature.
b. Historical. the (Spanish) Fury: the massacre perpetrated by the Spanish at Antwerp in October–November 1576.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > slaughter > [noun] > instance of > specific
the (Spanish) Fury1576
Bartholomew1646
Amboyna massacre1654
final solution1947
nuclear holocaust1954
the Shoah1967
1576 T. Heton Let. 10 Nov. in E. Arber Eng. Garner (1896) (modernized text) VIII. 166 To answer and content the Spanish soldiers and others who, in the Fury, entered our said House.
1855 J. L. Motley Rise Dutch Republic III. iv. v. 116 It was called The Spanish Fury, by which dread name it has been known for ages.
3.
a. transferred of things (e.g. of a tempest, the wind, a raging malady, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > violent action or operation > [noun]
brathc1175
reighshipc1275
airc1300
ragec1330
sturdinessc1384
violencea1387
fierceness1435
vehemencyc1487
furiosity1509
fiercetya1513
bremeness?1529
boistousness1530
vehemence1535
bruteness1538
violency1538
violentness1544
vehementness1561
wrath1579
fury1585
torture1605
keenness?1606
ragingness1621
stiffness1623
rapt1632
tempestuousness1648
boisterousnessa1650
rampancy1652
boisture1667
untamedness1727
paroxysm1893
storminess1894
1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie ii. xi. 46 b In despite of the rayne, wind, and furye of the sea.
1599 R. Linche Fountaine Anc. Fiction sig. Vii Those places which, by the ardent furie of the sunnes vertue, become drie.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ iii. iv. §5 These waters falling down with so much fury and violence.
1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World xiii. 348 Before the Winds abated of their fury.
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 235 Had not the late unusuall Rain something allayed the Fury of the Heats.
1726 W. R. Chetwood Voy. & Adventures Capt. R. Boyle 127 Leaving their naked Bodies expos'd to the Fury of the Storm.
1742 W. Ellis London & Country Brewer (ed. 4) I. 51 For retarding and keeping back any Drink that is too much heated in working..it may be broke into several other Tubs, where, by its shallow Lying, it will be taken off its Fury.
1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters i. 217 All his former complaints rage with more than double fury.
1887 C. Bowen tr. Virgil Æneid i, in tr. Virgil in Eng. Verse 74 Arm with fury the winds.
b. like fury: furiously, ‘like mad’. colloquial.
ΚΠ
1840 H. W. Longfellow Let. 10 Feb. in S. Longfellow Life H. W. Longfellow (1891) I. xxi. 359 The last eighteen miles it rained like fury.
4. Inspired frenzy, as of one possessed by a god or demon; esp. poetic ‘rage’. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > excitement > inspiration > [noun] > specific type of inspiration or exaltation > of poets and prophets
fury1546
rage1563
furor1589
oestrum1663
ecstasy1670
enthusiasm1677
oestrus1816
estro1848
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > [noun] > poetic rage
fury1546
rage1563
furor1589
elocationa1620
oestrum1663
oestrus1816
estro1848
1546 T. Langley tr. P. Vergil Abridgem. Notable Worke i. xix. 33 b When they prophesie in manner of furie, and rauishinge of mynde.
1563 B. Googe Eglogs Epytaphes & Sonettes sig. A*.ii O Cupyde kynge of fyerye Loue..with Furye fyll my brayne, That I may able be to tell, the cause of Louers payne.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Apol. Poetrie (1595) sig. L3 They are so beloued of the Gods, that whatsoeuer they write, proceeds of a diuine fury.
1597 T. Morley Plaine & Easie Introd. Musicke 35 This hath been a mightie musicall furie, which hath caused him to shewe such diuersitie in so small bounds.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) iii. iv. 72 A Sybell..In her prophetique fury, sowed the worke. View more context for this quotation
1677 T. Hobbes in tr. Homer Iliads (ed. 2) To Rdr. sig. A5v The Sublimity of a Poet, which is that Poetical Fury which the Readers for the most part call for.
1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 74 All that Enthusiasm or poetick Fury could inspire.
1712 A. Pope tr. Statius First Bk. Thebais in Misc. Poems 5 A sacred Fury fires My ravish'd Breast, and All the Muse inspires.
5.
a. One of the avenging deities (Latin Furiæ, Diræ, Greek Ἐρινύες, Εὐμενίδες), dread goddesses with snakes twined in their hair, sent from Tartarus to avenge wrong and punish crime: in later accounts, three in number (Tisiphone, Megæra, Alecto). Hence gen. an avenging or tormenting infernal spirit.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > classical deity > [noun] > the Furies > one of
furyc1385
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > [noun] > other types of spirit
fury1574
astral spirits1647
ardour1667
presence1667
Willa1718
rolling calf1845
Stella Maris1876
tommyknocker1895
c1385 G. Chaucer Legend Good Women Philomela. 2252 The furies three with aile hir mortel brond.
c1386 G. Chaucer Knight's Tale 1826 Out of the ground a furie [v.rr. fyr(e, fir(e] infernal sterte. From Pluto sent, at requeste of Saturne.
1574 J. Higgins 1st Pt. Mirour for Magistrates Cordila xxiv Art thou some fury sent? My wofull corps with paynes to more tormente?
1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene iv. i. sig. A6v For she at first was borne of hellish brood, And by infernall furies nourished. View more context for this quotation
1606 Bp. J. Hall Heauen vpon Earth iv. 27 Thou shalt neuer want furies so long as thou hast thy selfe.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 620 Had not the folly of Man Let in these wastful Furies . View more context for this quotation
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 137. ⁋3 Thunder, Furies, and Damnation! I'll cut your Ears off.
1737 W. Whiston tr. Josephus Jewish War vi. iii, in tr. Josephus Genuine Wks. 931 Be thou a fury [Gk. Ἐρινύς] to these seditious varlets.
1838 T. Arnold Hist. Rome (1846) I. vii. 106 All prayed that the furies of her father's blood might visit her with vengeance.
1840 T. B. Macaulay Ld. Clive in Ess. (1865) II. 104/1 He [Surajah Dowlah] sat gloomily in his tent, haunted, a Greek poet would have said, by the furies of those who had cursed him with their last breath in the Black Hole.
b. Used for: One of the three ‘Fates’ or Parcæ.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > classical deity > [noun] > the Fates > one of
fury1638
1638 J. Milton Lycidas in Obsequies 22 in Justa Edouardo King Comes the blind Furie with th' abhorred shears, And slits the thin-spun life.
6.
a. transferred. One who is likened to an infernal spirit or minister of vengeance; esp. a ferociously angry or malignant woman.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > furious anger > [noun] > furious person > woman
furyc1374
furiosa1710
the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > ill-naturedness > ill nature in woman or shrewishness > [noun] > shrew
scoldc1175
shrewc1386
viragoc1386
scolder1423
common scold1467
wild cat1570
vixen1575
callet1577
termagant1578
(Long) Meg of Westminster1589
butter whore1592
cotquean1593
scrattop1593
scoldsterc1600
butter-quean1613
Xantippea1616
fury1620
Tartar1669
fish-woman1698
cross-patch1699
Whitechapel fortune1734
brimstone1751
randy1762
fish-fag1786
rantipole1790
skellata1810
skimmington1813
targer1822
skellat-bell1827
catamaran1834
nagster1873
yenta1923
c1374 G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde v. 1498 And of the holy serpent, and the welle, And of the furies, al she gan him telle.
1611 Bible (King James) 2 Macc. vii. 9 Thou like a fury takest vs out of this present life. View more context for this quotation
1620 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Phylaster ii. 26 Come sir, you put me to a womans madness, The glory of a fury.
1676 J. Dryden Aureng-Zebe ii, in Wks. (1883) V. 224 Remember, sir, your fury of a wife.
1687 T. Brown Saints in Uproar in Wks. (1730) I. 73 Here's a termagant fury, St. Ursula by name.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 279 He flew upon his Murtherers, like a Fury.
1768 O. Goldsmith Good Natur'd Man i. 9 There was the old deaf dowager, as usual, bidding like a fury against herself.
1843 T. B. Macaulay Madame D'Arblay in Eclectic Mag. Apr. 465/2 The card-table of the old Fury to whom she was tethered.
1873–4 W. H. Dixon Hist. Two Queens IV. xxi. v. 149 When the King's confessor went to Oxford, he was stoned by female furies in the Market Place.
b. humorously, of things.
ΚΠ
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. xv. 167 Facing the little lobster-red fury of a stove.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a.
fury-form n.
ΚΠ
1866 J. Conington tr. Virgil Æneid viii. 282 There Catiline Hangs poised above the infernal deep With Fury-forms behind.
fury rage n.
ΚΠ
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid xii. ii. 129 With sykkin fury rage catchit is he.
b.
fury-haunted adj.
ΚΠ
1735 W. Somervile Chace iii. 468 So the poor Fury-haunted Wretch..still seems to hear The dying Shrieks.
fury-moving adj.
ΚΠ
1609 S. Daniel Civile Wares (rev. ed.) iv. xlv. 98 Forth-with, began these fury-mouing sounds.
c.
fury-like adj. and adv.
ΚΠ
1600 E. Fairfax tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne xvi. lviii. 292 My angrie soule..furie like in snakes and fire brands drest, Shall aie torment thee.
a1711 T. Ken Wks. (1721) I. 49 All dream'd that Herod Fury-like appear'd.
a1748 J. Thomson Song Come, gentle God of soft desire, Come, and possess my happy breast; Not, fury-like, in flames and fire, In rapture, rage, and nonsense, drest.
C2.
fury fire n. apparently a technical term for a white heat.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > [noun] > specific degree of heat
red heatc1540
fury fire1644
adustness1652
white heat1664
blood heat1678
welding heat1710
black heat1800
welding1842
boiling-heat1846
red-hot1865
melting heat1868
1644 K. Digby Two Treat. i. iii. 21 When the smith and the glassemender, driue theire white and fury fires, (as they terme them..).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† furyv.
Obsolete. rare.
reflexive. To drive oneself to fury, become infuriated.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > furious anger > to rage (of fury) [verb (intransitive)] > be or become furious
wedec1000
resea1250
ragea1400
rampc1405
rase1440
outragea1475
stampc1480
enragec1515
ournc1540
gry1594
fury1628
rampage1692
to stamp one's foot1821
to fire off1848
foam1852
fire1859
to stomp one's feetc1927
to spit chips1947
to spit cotton1947
to spit blood1963
to go ballistic1981
1628 O. Felltham Resolves: 2nd Cent. x. sig. I6 As, I would not neglect a sodaine good opportunity; so I would not furie my selfe in the search.
Derivatives
ˈfurying adj. raging, moving with fury.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > furious anger > [adjective] > furiously angry
grim971
aweddeOE
woodlyc1000
anburstc1275
woodc1275
aburstc1300
eagerc1325
brotheful1330
brothely1330
furiousc1374
wroth as (the) wind1377
throc1380
fella1382
wrothlya1400
grindelc1400
raginga1425
furibund1490
bremit1535
outraging1567
fulminant?1578
wood-like1578
horn-mad1579
snuff1582
woodful1582
maddeda1586
rageful1585
furibundal1593
gary1609
fierce1611
wild1653
infuriate1667
hopping mad1675
maddened1735
sulphureous1751
savage1789
infuriated1796
bouncing mad1834
frenzy1859
furyinga1861
ropeable1870
furied1878
fulminous1886
livid1888
fit to be tied1894
hopping1894
fighting mad1896
tamping mad1946
up the wall1951
ravers1967
a1861 A. H. Clough Poems & Prose Remains (1869) II. 190 The wild sea's furying waters.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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