insane, a. (n.)
(ɪnˈseɪn)
[ad. L. insān-us unsound (in mind), f. in- (in-3) + sānus healthy, sound in body or in mind, sane.]
1. Of persons: Not of sound mind, mad, mentally deranged. Also of the mind: Unsound.
| 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus iii. 259 Than said Venus with mind almaist Insane. 1721 Bailey, Insane, out of Order, mad. 1730–6 ― (folio), Insane, out of order as to health; also mad. 1755 Johnson, Insane, 1 Mad. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 518 They are shut up; and they seldom fail of consequence to become more insane than they were before. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 72 A man might be sane at the time when two of the witnesses attest, and insane when the third attests. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 31/1 The State Hospital for the insane. |
b. absol. An insane person. Hence (attrib. use of the pl.), Appropriated to, set apart for, the insane, as insane asylum, insane ward, etc.
| 1786 S. Haswell Victoria II. 67 Every time the sweet insane mentioned the name. 1819 Metropolis II. 157 His future fortune and title seem destined for a bold insane. 1828 Webster, Insane..2. Used by or appropriated to insane persons; as, an insane hospital. 1873 F. Hall Mod. Eng. 127 note, We have sick rooms and dying beds. We qualify an asylum as insane. |
2. Of actions (also colloq. of things): Mad, idiotic, utterly senseless, irrational.
| 1842 J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 344 Mr. Alstroemer in 1723 imported a small flock of merinos. It was a hazardous—it appeared to be a presumptuous, and an almost insane attempt. 1869 Sir J. T. Coleridge Keble xxi. 534 The insane and excessive passion for athletics. |
† 3. Causing insanity. Obs. [So L. insānus.]
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. iii. 84 Haue we eaten on the insane Root, That takes the Reason Prisoner? |
Hence inˈsanely adv., in an insane manner, madly. inˈsaneness, madness.
| 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Insaneness, unhealthfulness; also madness. 1828 Webster cites Montgomery for Insanely. 1849 E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 72 Plots and conspiracies..might easily have been formed under our very eyes, while the clue to them was thus insanely withheld. 1891 G. Meredith One of our Conq. III. xii. 251 Nataly could not utter all that her insaneness of feeling made her think. |