hystericaladj.n.
/hᵻˈstɛrᵻkl/, U.S. /həˈstɛrək(ə)l/ A. adj.
1.
a. Of, relating to, or of the nature of the hysterical passion (see Compounds) or hysteria (as a medical or psychogenic disorder). Also (of a symptom or condition): (supposedly) occurring as a manifestation of this disorder.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > convulsive or paralytic disorders > [adjective] > hysteria
hysterical1603
hysteric1655
hysteroid1839
hysteriform1843
hysteroidal1852
hysterogenic1879
hysterogenous1879
spasmogenic1899
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [adjective] > psychoneurosis > hysteria
hysterical1603
mothersick1618
hysteric1655
tarantulary1781
hysteroid1839
hysteriform1843
hysteroidal1852
tarantular1857
hysterogenic1879
hysterogenous1879
hypnoid1898
hypnoidal1898
pithiatic1910
1603 E. Jorden Briefe Disc. Dis. called Suffocation of Mother iii. sig. D We doe seldome see any hystericall affect wherein some one or mo of the functions are not affected.
1729 R. Browne Medicina Musica iv. 109 After all, it is much to be question'd, whether many Fits that are commonly call'd Hysterical, are not rather a Species of the Epilepsy or St. Vitus's Dance.
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian ix, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. I. 263 The unfortunate young woman..finally fell into a hysterical fit.
1881 Homœopathic Jrnl. Obstetr. & Dis. Women & Children 2 431 Most cases of nervous or hysterical pregnancy are met with later in life.
1922 A. A. Brill Psychoanalysis i. 18 The psychic traumas which are supposed to be at the basis of hysterical symptoms.
2003 Sing Out! Winter 144/1 Linda Thompson..quit the music business after being afflicted with hysterical dysphonia, a rare psychological disorder that silenced her singing voice.
2013 T. Burns Our Necessary Shadow v. 107 Distinguishing patients with ‘organic’ from those with hysterical fits in these wards was one of the stimuli for dynamic psychotherapy.
b. Of a medicinal agent: used in the treatment of disorders of or attributed to the uterus, esp. the hysterical passion; = hysteric adj. 2. Now historical and rare.Cf. antihysteric adj.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > preparations for treating specific parts > [adjective] > for the womb
hysterical1651
hysteric1657
1651 J. French Art Distillation ii. 61 The Mother-Water, commonly called Hystericall Water is made thus.
1657 W. Carr tr. L. Rivière Universal Body Physick v. 375 (heading) Of Hysterical Medicaments.
1700 D. Irish Levamen Infirmi 25 I have a wonderful Histerical Spirit, far exceeding any other Spirit yet known for the curing of all sorts of Fits.
1757 R. Meade Pharmacopœia Meadiana: Pt. II 55 Hysterical Medicines, warm Purges, Carminatives, &c. were administered.
1980 R. Meister Hypochondria iii. 91 He [sc. Thomas Sydenham]..knew that some hypochondriacs had so strong an idiosyncrasy as to feel an absolute repugnance against his ‘hysterical pills’.
2. Originally: affected by the hysterical passion or hysteria (as a medical or psychogenic disorder) (now rare). In later use: exhibiting or inclined to extreme or unrestrained emotion; overwhelmed by emotion.
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1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 326 Hysterical women, that is, such as are in fits of the mother.
1705 F. Fuller Medicina Gymnastica 10 Those weaker Hysterical People, whose Spirits are of so fine a Make.
1743 H. Fielding Eurydice in Misc. II. 282 Can I help my Fears? You know I was always inclined to be hysterical.
1830 Lancet 15 May 233/1 I have seen an hysterical woman suddenly become lock-jawed.
1880 L. S. Beale On Slight Ailments 72 Hysterical girls are very apt to lose their appetite for a time.
1921 T. S. Eliot Let. 22 Jan. (1988) I. 433 Murry..will become more and more a conventional and solemn pundit, quite insincere, hysterical and morbid.
2015 K. Kwan China Rich Girlfriend i. ii. 28 I expected to find more hysterical aunties fighting over kitchen counter space.
3. Characterized by excessive, unrestrained emotion or agitation.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > excitement > nervous excitement > unhealthy excitement > [adjective]
hysteric1751
hystericky1791
shrieky1848
hysterical1862
menopausal1969
1862 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia III. xiii. vii. 511 This of Pisek was but one of the many unwise hysterical things poor Broglio did.
1919 Times 29 Mar. 10/1 In his hysterical shrieking for the death penalty, he is as insatiable as a drug fiend.
2000 Daily Tel. 11 Apr. 25/3 If I hadn't been about to cry, I would probably have collapsed in hysterical laughter.
4. colloquial. Extremely funny, hilarious.
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1925 Courier & Argus (Dundee) 18 May 1/6 (advt.) Five Reels of Hysterical, Hilarious Merriment.
1988 Sun Herald (Sydney) (Nexis) 24 July (Late ed.) 131 Graham was absolutely hysterical. Much, much funnier than on his late night news show.
2011 West Australian (Perth) (Nexis) 16 June 6 This culminates in a food poisoning scene as inspired as it is hysterical, a classic gross-out moment.
B. n.† 1. A medicinal agent used to treat disorders of or attributed the uterus, esp. the hysterical passion; = hysteric n. 2. Obsolete.Cf. antihysteric n.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > preparations for treating specific parts > [noun] > for the womb
hysterical1651
hysterica1654
uterine1661
1651 N. Culpeper Key Galen's Method Physick in Physical Directory (ed. 3) 157/1 Such Medicines as provoke the Terms, or stop them when they flow immoderately, are properly Hystericals.
1671 W. Salmon Synopsis Medicinæ iii. xv. 359 Hystericals are such things as are appropriated to the Womb, and these are most of them Cephalicks.
1695 tr. T. Sydenham Compl. Method curing Dis. (new ed.) 162 In the mean time, during the use of the Steel, we must not neglect those Remedies that are commonly call'd Hystericals.
2. In plural. Originally: a bout or display of overwhelming, uncontrollable emotion or agitation, esp. as a result of acute distress. Now more usually: uncontrollable laughter. Cf. hysterics n. 1.
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the mind > emotion > excitement > nervous excitement > unhealthy excitement > [noun] > hysterics
hysterics1664
stericks1765
hystericals1797
high strikes1809
meemies1927
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > convulsive or paralytic disorders > [noun] > hysteria > fit of
suffocation (also rising, fit) of the mother1615
mother-fit1657
hysterics1664
hystericals1797
conniption1833
1797 S. J. Pratt Family Secrets I. xlii. 313 Olivia had been carried to her chamber in hystericals.
1857 C. Kingsley Two Years Ago III. vi. 152 Most astonished..to see a lassie that never gave him a kind word in her life..greet and greet at his going, till she vanished away into hystericals.
1930 Fight Stories Sept. 42/2 Instantly the crowd went into hystericals and I opened my eyes and looked for the corpse.
2014 @JackPhillips333 18 May in twitter.com (accessed 15 Oct. 2019) Seeing the guy in the pub, absoloutly smashed and singing and dancing has made my day. In hystericals.
3. A person affected with hysteria (as a medical disorder) (now rare); a person overwhelmed by or inclined to extreme, uncontrollable emotion or agitation. Also (with the and plural agreement): such persons as a class.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > convulsive or paralytic disorders > [noun] > hysteria > person
hysteric1654
hysterical1803
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > psychoneurosis > hysteria > person
hysteric1654
hysterical1803
1803 T. Beddoes Hygëia III. ix. 184 The tremulous and over-sensible, the epileptic, the hysterical, the hypochondriac, very generally agree in complaining of a decrease of memory.
1860 B. W. Richardson On Med. Hist. & Treatm. Dis. Teeth iv. 87 Very few confirmed hystericals escape a touch of it [sc. hysterical toothache].
1892 A. W. Pinero Magistrate iii. i. 136 (The sound of a shriek from Agatha and Charlotte.) Lugg... Don't notice them. They're hystericals. They're mild now to what they have been.
1911 Med. Fortn. 25 Apr. 159/1 The hysterical are generally women.
1950 E. Hemingway Across River & into Trees xxxix. 229 ‘I've stopped [crying],’ she said. ‘I'm not an hysterical.’
2006 Amer. Conservative 24 Apr. 22/3 Ironically, Pierre's most notable critics are not the ho-hum hystericals of the pro-choice movement.
Compounds
hysterical passion n. Medicine (now historical and rare) a (supposed) physical disorder originally attributed to displacement or dysfunction of the uterus, characterized particularly by sensations of choking or breathlessness (cf. hysteria n. 1); = hysteric passion n. at hysteric n. and adj. Compounds.
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1623 J. Hart tr. P. van Foreest Arraignm. Vrines ii. v. 64 Such like sleepy diseases, together also with..bloody fluxes, hystericall passion, commonly called the mother, &c.
1762 tr. J. Astruc Treat. Dis. Women I. iv. 77 There will happen in this case, attacks of the hysterical passion.
1848 C. D. Meigs Females & their Dis. xxxvi. 467 In not a few instances, I have put a stop to the paroxysm of hysterical passion by balancing the uterus upon the point of my index finger, and thrusting it as far as I could carry it into the upper part of the pelvic excavation.
1963 Proc. Royal Soc. Med. 56 323/2 Jorden in his rejection of a supernatural origin for the hysterical passion may for a time have reinforced the idea of its uterine origin, but Willis undermined that by attributing it to a discharge of animal spirits in the nervous system.
hysterical fever n. (a) (an instance of) fever attributed to hysteria (as a medical or psychogenic disorder) (now historical and rare); †(b) mild typhus fever (obsolete rare).
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1754 S. Mihles in tr. A. von Haller Physiol. II. 375 A variety of hippish, hysterical, nervous and polymorphous fevers.
1822 J. M. Good Study Med. II. 188 It [sc. mild typhus] has sometimes been denominated the hysterical fever.
1912 Med. Rec. 18 May 954/2 Finally, there remain those mysterious cases of nervous and hysterical fever, the authenticity of which cannot be doubted.
2019 O. Walusinski Georges Gilles de la Tourette 314 Gilles de la Tourette was clearly uncomfortable writing about ‘hysterical fevers’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2020; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1603