bedlam
(ˈbɛdləm)
Forms: 1–3 betleem, 3 beþþleæm, 3–6 beth(e)leem, 4 bedleem, 4–8 bethlem, 6– -lehem, 3–7 bedlem, 5 bedelem, 6 bedleme, 6–7 -lame, 6– bedlam.
[ME. Bedlem = Bethlem, Bethlehem; applied to the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, in London, founded as a priory in 1247, with the special duty of receiving and entertaining the bishop of St. Mary of Bethlehem, and the canons, etc. of this, the mother church, as often as they might come to England. In 1330 it is mentioned as ‘an hospital,’ and in 1402 as a hospital for lunatics (Timbs); in 1346 it was received under the protection of the city of London, and on the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it was granted to the mayor and citizens, and in 1547 incorporated as a royal foundation for the reception of lunatics. Thence the modern sense, of which instances appear early in 16th c.]
† 1. The town of Bethlehem in Judea. Obs.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 93 Þa he on Betleem wæs acenned. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 31 And tealde þe herdes þe wakeden ouer here oref biside þe burch belleem [? betleem]. c 1200 Ormin 3360 He borenn iss I Daviþþ kingess chesstre, þat iss ȝehatenn Beþþleæm. a 1300 Cursor M. 11234 Þat blisful birþ in bethleem [Gött. betheleem, Laud a 1400 bedlem]. 1382 Wyclif Luke ii, A cite of Dauith that is cleped Bedleem. c 1440 Lay-Folks Mass-Bk. C. 109 Ihesu, þat was in bedlem borne. 1616 Pasquil & Kath. v. 206 M. Mamon is in a Citie of Iurie, called Bethlem, alias, plaine Bedlame. |
2. The Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, used as an asylum for the reception and cure of mentally deranged persons; originally situated in Bishopsgate, in 1676 rebuilt near London Wall, and in 1815 transferred to Lambeth. Jack or Tom o' Bedlam: a madman.
| 1528 Tindale Obed. Chr. Man (1848) 184 For they..do things which they of Bedlam may see that they are but madness. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 107 Lyke Iacke of Bedlem in and out whipping. 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 34 Could sute them in no place but in Bedlam and Bridewell. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. i. 131 To Bedlem with him! Is the man growne mad? 1605 ― Lear i. ii. 148 With a sighe like Tom o' Bedlam. 1678 Evelyn Mem. (1857) II. 126, I went to see new Bedlam Hospital..most sweetly placed in Moorfields, since the dreadful fire. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xi. (1878) 223 There was I..in as strait a jacket as ever poor wretch in Bedlam. |
3. By extension: A lunatic asylum, a madhouse.
| 1663 Aron-bimnucha 32 The Bedlam..the skrews..are the best instances of our kindness. 1699 Pomfret Love triumph. Reason 170 'Twas both an hospital and bedlam too. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Christi vii. iv. (1852) 525 A Bethlehem seems to have been fitter for them than a gallows. a 1743 Ld. Hervey Beauties Eng. (1804) I. 106 Those virgins act a wiser part Who hospitals and bedlams would explore. |
b. abstr. Madness, lunacy. Also interjectionally.
| 1598 Marston Pygmal. iii. 149 Bedlame, Frenzie, Madnes, Lunacie, I challenge all your moody Empery. a 1645 Habington Fine Y. Folly v, Bedlam! this is pretty sport. |
4. fig. A scene of mad confusion or uproar.
| a 1667 Cowley Cromwell Wks. 1710 II. 627 Thou dost..A Babel, and a Bedlam grow. 1713 Guardian No. 132 (1756) II. 194 Our house is a sort of Bedlam, and nothing in order. 1850 Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. viii. (1872) 276 That all this was a Donnybrook Bedlam. |
† 5. An inmate of Bethlehem Hospital, London, or of a lunatic asylum, or one fit for such a place, a madman; spec. one of the discharged, but often only half-cured, patients of the former, who were licensed to beg, wearing as a badge a tin plate on their left hand or arm; called also bedlam-beggars, bedlamers, bedlamites. Obs.
| 1522 Skelton Why not to Courte Wks. II. 653 Such a madde bedleme For to rewle this reame. 1541 Barnes Wks. (1573) 294/2 A scorge to tame those bedlames with. 1545 Coverdale Abridgm. Erasm. Enchir. iii. Wks. 1844 I. 500 The world judgeth us to be fools..and to be mad bedlames. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 169 The veriest bedlems that can be. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Affamé, A hungry Boore is halfe a bedlam. 1626 L. Owen Spec. Jesuit. (1629) 37 The Duke imagining him to bee a foole, or a bedlem..let him goe. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. i. 123 Some [said] they were Bedlams. 1701 Swift Mrs. Harris' Petit. Wks. 1755 III. ii. 61 She roar'd like a Bedlam. |
6. attrib., at length adj. Of, belonging to, or fit for Bedlam or a mad-house; mad, foolish.
| a 1535 More Wks. (1557) 16 The rauing of bethlem people. 1575 Turberv. Falconrie 254 Falcons..when they bee impatient and bedlam in the mewe. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, v. i. 20 Ha, art thou bedlam? 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. (1851) 275 But this which followes is plaine bedlam stuffe. 1788 Cowper Table-T. 609 Anacreon, Horace, play'd..This Bedlam part. |
7. Comb.: ns., as Bedlam beggar (cf. bedlam 5), bedlam-house, bedlam-man; adjs., as bedlam-mad, bedlam-ripe, bedlam-witted.
| 1525 Tindale N.T. Prol., Who ys..so bedlem madde to affyrm that good is the naturall cause of yuell? 1533 More Answ. Poyson. Bk. Wks. (1557) 1036/2 More bedelem rype then thys booke is. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. lxxxiv. 28 Beetill blind, and bedlem mad. 1572 R. H. tr. Lavaterus' Ghostes (1596) 13 Bedleme houses where madde and frantike men are kept. 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. iii. 14 The country giues me proofe, and president Of Bedlam beggers. 1646 G. Daniel Poems Wks. 1878 I. 60 All Bedlam-witted, walke in Bedlem wise. 1658 Ussher Ann. vi. (1688) 106 Like a bedlam-man. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vi. vii. 346 Hardly audible amid the Bedlam-storm. |