bedlamite
A lunatic.
Noun
- A lunatic.
- [S]he cursed him with the bitterest imprecations, and raved like a Bedlamite at the door, which she attempted to burst open. - 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify...
- Upon coming to the edge of the outer surf, the man at the stern of our boat, steering with a long oar, began to stamp his feet and roar like a bedlamite […] . - 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio...
- Cripps, bewildered at his friend's Bedlamite departure, stood staring helplessly after him with the ruined picture of Isaiah in his hand. - 1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co.,...
Origin
From bedlam + -ite, in reference to the Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem, a former London institution for the insane.