like mad : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: like mad	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for like mad
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
like mad adv with great speed or effort or intensity; "drove like crazy"; "worked like hell to get the job done"; "ran like sin for the storm cellar"; "work like thunder"; "fought like the devil" Synonym(s): like hell, like mad, like crazy, like sin, like thunder, like the devil
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Mad \Mad\, a. [Compar. {Madder}; superl. {Maddest}.] [AS. gem[?]d, gem[be]d, mad; akin to OS. gem[?]d foolish, OHG. gameit, Icel. mei[?]a to hurt, Goth. gam[a0]ids weak, broken. [?].] 1. Disordered in intellect; crazy; insane. I have heard my grandsire say full oft, Extremity of griefs would make men mad. --Shak. 2. Excited beyond self-control or the restraint of reason; inflamed by violent or uncontrollable desire, passion, or appetite; as, to be mad with terror, lust, or hatred; mad against political reform. It is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols. --Jer. 1. 88. And being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. --Acts xxvi. 11. 3. Proceeding from, or indicating, madness; expressing distraction; prompted by infatuation, fury, or extreme rashness. [bd]Mad demeanor.[b8] --Milton. Mad wars destroy in one year the works of many years of peace. --Franklin. The mad promise of Cleon was fulfilled. --Jowett (Thucyd.). 4. Extravagant; immoderate. [bd]Be mad and merry.[b8] --Shak. [bd]Fetching mad bounds.[b8] --Shak. 5. Furious with rage, terror, or disease; -- said of the lower animals; as, a mad bull; esp., having hydrophobia; rabid; as, a mad dog. 6. Angry; out of patience; vexed; as, to get mad at a person. [Colloq.] 7. Having impaired polarity; -- applied to a compass needle. [Colloq.] {Like mad}, like a mad person; in a furious manner; as, to run like mad. --L'Estrange. {To run mad}. (a) To become wild with excitement. (b) To run wildly about under the influence of hydrophobia; to become affected with hydrophobia. {To run mad after}, to pursue under the influence of infatuation or immoderate desire. [bd]The world is running mad after farce.[b8] --Dryden.