Dictionary

madchild en · NOUN

Etymology

From mad + child, by analogy to madman and madwoman.

Meanings

1. A child who is insane.
   • The madhouse went down to the beach today - madmen, madwomen, madchildren - not to bathe, though the weather was perfect for bathing, but to welcome outcasts of every description from lands overseas. 2000, Gad Hollander, Walserian waltzes, →ISBN, page 25:
   • I felt an unusual detachment, an almost agnostic attitude toward the contest of giants that would turn New Orleans's Superdome into a vast asylum for madmen, madwomen and even madchildren. 2012, H. Brandt Ayers, The 2013 BCS National Championship, →ISBN:
   • Sitting on the bed surveying the damage, she begins to notice some order to the chaos. Perhaps this is not the act of a madman (or madchild) after all. 1994, Murray Krantz, Child Development: Risk and Opportunity, →ISBN, page 297:

Forms