ˈmadbrain, n. (and a.)
A. n. A mad-brained person; a ‘scatter-brain’.
| c 1570 Marr. Wit & Sci. v. i. E 1 b, Thou art some mad braine, or some foole. 1608 Middleton Mad World i. A 3 Heer's a mad-braine a'th first, whose prankes scorne to haue presidents. 1616 J. Deacon Tobacco Tortured 57 Alas poore Tobacco..thou that hast bene hitherto accompted..the mad-braines merriment,..and the vnthrifts pasport. 1876 G. Meredith Beauch. Career II. xvi. 285 He began to think her lost beyond hope, embarked for good and all with the madbrain. |
† B. attrib. or adj. = mad-brained. Obs.
| 1592 G. Harvey Four Lett. 45, I haue..seene the mad⁓braynest Roister-doister in a countrey dashte out of countenaunce. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iii. ii. 10, I must forsooth be forst To give my hand..Vnto a mad-braine rudesby. 1605 Rowlands Hell's Broke Loose 33 With..mad-braine heat, Munster they enter. 1631 Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 295 That wilde madbraine Falques. |