Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Obsolete forms of
frenzy .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Violent and irrational excitement; delirium. See
frenzy . - transitive verb To render frantic.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Violent and irrational excitement; delirium.
- verb To render frantic.
Etymologies
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Examples
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His "phrensy" of desire highlights not what the mirror has accomplished, but what it hasn't.
How to Do the History of Pornography: Romantic Sexuality and its Field of Vision 2006
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Unhappy creature that I am, said she, in a kind of phrensy, wringing her hands at the same time, and turning from me, her eyes lifted up!
Clarissa Harlowe 2006
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There was, I believe, a kind of phrensy in my manner, which threw her into a panic, like that of Semele perhaps, when the Thunderer, in all his majesty, surrounded with ten thousand celestial burning-glasses, was about to scorch her into a cinder.
Clarissa Harlowe 2006
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I attribute it all to a vanity that has, by the foolish admiration of his acquaintance, been worked up into a kind of phrensy, I shall be very unwilling to believe that he ever intended to distress a friend whom he loved as much as I believe that he has done you.
George Selwyn: His Letters and His Life Helen [Editor] Clergue
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I attribute it all to a vanity that has, by the foolish admiration of his acquaintance, been worked up into a kind of phrensy, I shall be very unwilling to believe that he ever intended to distress a friend whom he loved as much as I believe that he has done you.
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Pg. 35, unusual or archaic spelling of "phrensy" retained.
Borneo and the Indian Archipelago with drawings of costume and scenery Frank Marryat 1840
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Having worked himself into this ridiculous kind of phrensy, which lasted, perhaps, from twenty to thirty seconds, he suddenly discontinued it, and suffered his features to relax into their natural form; but the motion of his head seemed to have so stupified him, as indeed it well might, that there remained an unusual vacancy and a drowsy stare upon his countenance for some time afterward.
Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 1 William Edward Parry 1822
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It is common among men, under the influence of any kind of phrensy, to believe that all the world has the same odd notions that disorder their own imaginations.
The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 05 Miscellaneous Pieces Samuel Johnson 1746
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Unhappy creature that I am, said she, in a kind of phrensy, wringing her hands at the same time, and turning from me, her eyes lifted up!
Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 6 Samuel Richardson 1725
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There was, I believe, a kind of phrensy in my manner, which threw her into a panic, like that of Semele perhaps, when the Thunderer, in all his majesty, surrounded with ten thousand celestial burning-glasses, was about to scorch her into a cinder.
Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 3 Samuel Richardson 1725
madmouth commented on the word phrensy
obsolete spelling variant of frenzy
June 10, 2009