Dictionary

madhouse en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈmædˌhaʊs/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From mad + house.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) A house where insane persons are confined; an insane asylum.
   • The king experienced his first attack in autumn 1788, and as his condition worsened and the physicians-in-ordinary proved unable to cope or cure, the Reverend Dr Francis Willis (1717–1807), a clergyman doctor who ran a madhouse in Lincolnshire, was called in. 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society, published 2016, page 263:
   • He is almost a tourist of his own book. There is a hint of the fad a couple of centuries ago for visiting madhouses in search of the exotic. 2002 February 27, Richard Eder, “BOOKS OF THE TIMES; When the Impostor Tries To Do the Job in Earnest”, in The New York Times:
   • The palace, the night-cellar, the jail, the madhouse: the chambers of birth and death, of health and sickness, the rigid face of the corpse and the calm sleep of the child: midnight was upon them all. 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
2. (broadly, figuratively) A chaotic, uproarious, noisy place.
   • This taut, soldierly, professional story is something of a stranger among American novels about war making. Angry civilians have writ ten most of the best fiction on the subject, from “Three Soldiers” through “Catch‐22,” to make the point (with a good deal of literary overkill) that wars are mass insanity and that armies are madhouses. 1970 September 13, Robie MacAuley, “The Army as one of life's awful necessities”, in The New York Times:

Forms

Synonyms

nuthouse · crazy house · mental health hospital · insane asylum · psych · psychopathic hospital · bin · insane asylum · mental health center · happy hotel · mental hotel · bedlam · psychiatric hospital · whack shack · special hospital · booby house · psych hospital · funny farm · psychiatric ward · cuckoo's nest · lunatic asylum · mental home · booby-hatch · Tanjung Rambutan · laughing academy · nutfarm · bughouse · madhouse · mental asylum · mental institution · mental hospital · mental hospital · psych ward · loony bin · grippy sock vacation

Translations (58)

pl wariatkowo (insane asylum) · ca manicomi (place resembling an insane asylum) · gl manicomio (insane asylum) · az dəlixana (insane asylum) · mk лудница (insane asylum) · nn galehus (insane asylum) · gl manicomio (place resembling an insane asylum) · uk божеві́льня (insane asylum) · el τρελοκομείο (place resembling an insane asylum) · ru дурдом (place resembling an insane asylum) · el μουρλοκομείο (insane asylum) · cmn 瘋人院 /疯人院 (place resembling an insane asylum) · de Tollhaus (place resembling an insane asylum) · nn galnehus (place resembling an insane asylum) · es manicomio (insane asylum) · io dementerio (insane asylum) · pl dom wariatów (insane asylum) · it gabbia di matti (place resembling an insane asylum) · bg лудница (insane asylum) · da galehus (place resembling an insane asylum) · nb galehus (insane asylum) · ro balamuc (place resembling an insane asylum) · el τρελάδικο (place resembling an insane asylum) · pl dom wariatów (place resembling an insane asylum) · de Irrenanstalt (insane asylum) · ms suaka gila (insane asylum) · tr delihane (insane asylum) · it manicomio (place resembling an insane asylum) · de Klapsmühle (insane asylum) · pt manicómio (insane asylum) · tr delihane (place resembling an insane asylum) · cmn 瘋人院 /疯人院 (insane asylum) · pl szpital psychiatryczny (insane asylum) · unm kpëcheònkëlëwikaon (insane asylum) · da galehus (insane asylum) · pa ਪਾਗਲਖਾਨਾ (insane asylum) · ru дурдом (insane asylum) · pt manicômio (insane asylum) · pl wariatkowo (place resembling an insane asylum) · ca manicomi (insane asylum) · el τρελοκομείο (insane asylum) · sv dårhus (insane asylum) · sv dårhus (place resembling an insane asylum) · pl psychiatryk (insane asylum) · el τρελάδικο (insane asylum) · el μουρλοκομείο (place resembling an insane asylum) · nn galnehus (insane asylum) · nn galehus (place resembling an insane asylum) · es manicomio (place resembling an insane asylum) · pt manicomio (place resembling an insane asylum) · de Irrenhaus (insane asylum) · nb galehus (place resembling an insane asylum) · fi hullujenhuone (insane asylum) · az dəlixana (place resembling an insane asylum) · it manicomio (insane asylum) · sh ludnica (insane asylum) · fi hullujenhuone (place resembling an insane asylum) · srn kolera (insane asylum)