maenad


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mae·nad

 (mē′năd′)
n.
1. Greek Mythology A woman member of the orgiastic cult of Dionysus.
2. A frenzied woman.

[Latin Maenas, Maenad-, from Greek mainas, raving, madwoman, Maenad, from mainesthai, to be mad; see men- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

maenad

(ˈmiːnæd) or

menad

n
1. (Classical Myth & Legend) classical myth a woman participant in the orgiastic rites of Dionysus; bacchante
2. a frenzied woman
[C16: from Latin Maenas, from Greek mainas madwoman]
maeˈnadic adj
maeˈnadically adv
ˈmaenadism n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

mae•nad

(ˈmi næd)

n.
2. a frenzied or raging woman.
[1570–80; < Latin Maenad- (s. of Maenas) < Greek Mainás a bacchante, literally, madwoman]
mae•nad′ic, adj.
mae′nad•ism, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.maenad - an unnaturally frenzied or distraught woman
adult female, woman - an adult female person (as opposed to a man); "the woman kept house while the man hunted"
2.maenad - (Greek mythology) a woman participant in the orgiastic rites of Dionysusmaenad - (Greek mythology) a woman participant in the orgiastic rites of Dionysus
Greek mythology - the mythology of the ancient Greeks
adult female, woman - an adult female person (as opposed to a man); "the woman kept house while the man hunted"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
She ceased to be a woman, complex, kind and petulant, considerate and thoughtless; she was a Maenad. She was desire.
For once he fain had quenched the Maenad's fire; And of the tuneful Nine provoked the ire.
I have heard also How such strange magic lurks within these shells That at their bidding casements open wide And Innocence puts vine-leaves in her hair, And wantons like a maenad. Let that pass.
384-404) And when Demeter saw them, she rushed forth as does a Maenad down some thick-wooded mountain, while Persephone on the other side, when she saw her mother's sweet eyes, left the chariot and horses, and leaped down to run to her, and falling upon her neck, embraced her.
"Orpheus and the Maenads!" was the exclamation that rose to my lips when I first turned over his correspondence.
Thee too I call with golden-snooded hair, Whose name our land doth bear, Bacchus to whom thy Maenads Evoe shout; Come with thy bright torch, rout, Blithe god whom we adore, The god whom gods abhor.
Kaala maenad vaes / Gunhin bharya maen phraan, lok kahae darvaesh]' is how he translates one of the famous couplets.
The king delights in putting on his maenad outfit, and in approaching the mountain revelers.
[Shall I be a Maenad, I a part of me, I a sterile man?, 69]), but his utterances are ultimately met with the noise of the wilderness.
Faustine is the reverie of a man gazing on the bitter and vicious loveliness of a face as common and as cheap as the morality of reviewers, and dreaming of past lives in which this fair face may have held a nobler or fitter station; the imperial profile may have been Faustina's, the thirsty lips a Maenad's, when first she learnt to drink blood or wine, to waste the loves and ruin the lives of men; through Greece and again through Rome she may have passed with the same face which now comes before us dishonoured and discrowned.
Behind him is a Papposilenos (grandfather satyr) who faces a maenad holding a lyre; behind her and under the handle is a satyr wearing a leopard skin and holding a thyrsos.