mad

Etymology

From Middle English mad, madde, madd, medd, from Old English ġemǣdd, ġemǣded (“enraged”), past participle of ġemǣdan, *mǣdan (“to make insane or foolish”), from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to change; damage; cripple; injure; make mad”), from Proto-Germanic *maidaz ("weak; crippled"; compare Old English gemād (“silly, mad”), Old High German gimeit (“foolish, crazy”), literary German gemeit (“mad, insane”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (gamaiþs, “crippled”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- ("to change"; compare Old Irish máel (“bald, dull”), Old Lithuanian ap-maitinti (“to wound”), Sanskrit मेथति (méthati, “he hurts, comes to blows”)).

adj

1. Insane; crazy, mentally deranged.
   You want to spend $1000 on a pair of shoes? Are you mad?
   He's got this mad idea that he's irresistible to women.
   Dr. Manuel: Is it madness to see the future? To see the destruction rushing towards us? To understand there is no escape? No hope? No, I am not mad. I'm the only sane one left! 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Eden Prime
2. (chiefly US; informal in UK) Angry, annoyed.
   Are you mad at me?
   She was so mad she wouldn't speak to me for quite a spell, but at last I coaxed her into going up to Miss Emmeline's room and fetching down a tintype of the missing Deacon man. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 6, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
3. (chiefly in the negative, informal) Used litotically to indicate satisfaction or approval.
   Wow, you really made this pie from scratch? I'm not mad at it.
   I'm not mad at this little house, though. 2019, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, season 13, episode 3
   But I mean, once the flow was there, nobody was mad at it. 2019, “'Thank U' Text: Ariana Grande's Collaborators Break Down The Artist's Latest Album”, in NPR
4. (UK, informal) Bizarre; incredible.
   It's mad that I got that job back a day after being fired.
5. Wildly confused or excited.
   to be mad with terror, lust, or hatred
   My brother, quiet as a cat, seems perfectly contented with the internal feelings of his felicity. The Marquis, mad as a kitten, is all in motion to express it, from tongue to heel. 1787, R. Bage, The Fair Syrian, page 314
6. Extremely foolish or unwise; irrational; imprudent.
7. (colloquial, usually with for or about) Extremely enthusiastic about; crazy about; infatuated with; overcome with desire for.
   Aren't you just mad for that red dress?
8. (of animals) Abnormally ferocious or furious; or, rabid, affected with rabies.
   a mad dog
9. (slang, cheifly New England, New York, African-American Vernacular) Intensifier, signifying abundance or high quality of a thing; very, much or many.
   I gotta give you mad props for scoring us those tickets. Their lead guitarist has mad skills. There are always mad girls at those parties.
10. (of a compass needle) Having impaired polarity.

adv

1. (slang, cheifly New England, New York, African-American Vernacular and UK, dialectal) Intensifier; to a large degree; extremely; exceedingly; very; unbelievably.
   He was driving mad slow.
   It's mad hot today.
   He seems mad keen on her.

verb

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To be or become mad.
   The imperial Elizabetta gazed with surprise at the youthful and unpretending appearance of the little being that had set the world madding. 1832, Tales of the Alhambra, Washington Irving
2. (now colloquial US, Jamaica) To madden, to anger, to frustrate.
   Carolina! Whine your body gyal! Make Dem know say you have it fi mad dem 1993-03-22, “Oh Carolina”, in Pure Pleasure, performed by Shaggy (musician)