ˈmadwoman
[f. mad a. + woman, after madman.]
An insane woman.
| 1622 T. Scott Belg. Pismire 15, I remember a witty mad⁓woman..told a friend of hers [etc.]. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes iii, The rest of the madwomen seemed to understand the joke perfectly. 1844 Marg. Fuller Wom. in 19th C. (1862) 105 She..will not be pitied as a mad-woman, nor shrunk from as unnatural. |