27 January 2019
maenad
[mee-nad]
noun
1. bacchante.
2. a frenzied or raging woman.
Origin of maenad
Latin, Greek
1570-1580; < Latin Maenad- (stem of Maenas) < Greek Mainás a bacchante, special use of mainás madwoman
Related forms
maenadic, adjective
maenadism, noun
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for maenad
Historical Examples
These were the eyes of a girl who had raved like a maenad the night through.
A Thorny Path [Per Aspera], Complete
Georg Ebers
maenad : a frenzied Nymph, attendant on Dionysus in the Greek mythology.
The Golden Treasury
Various
Her eye gleamed: she ran to the cupboard and took out the maenad ‘s dress.
The History of David Grieve
Mrs. Humphry Ward
I was in a mind to wring the maenad ‘s neck three minutes ago.
The History of David Grieve
Mrs. Humphry Ward
But that statue will put it all right,’ and she pointed behind her to the maenad.
The History of David Grieve
Mrs. Humphry Ward
The tigress-mother swelled in her heart, and she looked like a maenad indeed.
Thomas Wingfold, Curate
George MacDonald
He followed: but the intense passion of the old hag hurled her onward with the strength and speed of a young maenad.
Hypatia
Charles Kingsley
She ceased to be a woman, complex, kind and petulant, considerate and thoughtless; she was a maenad.
The Moon and Sixpence
W. Somerset Maugham
She felt the gravity of his tone but, like a fierce maenad, she snatched at the torch, not caring how it revealed her.
Adrienne Toner
Anne Douglas Sedgwick
She flings her arms and tresses of Fire to the stars, a maenad in the planetary dance.
The Masque of the Elements
Herman Scheffauer
Today’s quote
The large print giveth and the small print taketh away.
― Tom Waits
On this day
27 January – International Holocaust Memorial Day in remembrance of the 11 million victims of the Nazi holocaust before and during the Second World War. Victims included 6 million Jews (3 million of whom were Polish), 3 million Polish Christians, 2 million gypsies, and millions of others, including Africans, Asians, people with mental or physical disabilities, Communists, Socialist, Unionists, intellectuals, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Slavs, Freemasons, political activists and anyone else either opposed to Nazi ideology, or living in land Hitler wanted (particularly Poland) or who didn’t fit his idea of a perfect master race. The date was chosen because 27 January 1945 was the date that Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz-Birchenau, the largest of the Nazi death camps.
27 January 1756 – birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer. Died 5 December 1791.
27 January 1926 – In London, John Logie Baird publicly demonstrates a revolutionary new invention, the television system.
27 January 1945 – The Soviet Army liberates survivors of the largest Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland, where it is estimated more than 1,000,000 Jews and tens of thousands of others were executed.
27 January 1967 – Outer Space Treaty was signed by 60 countries, including the USA and USSR, prohibiting the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space.
27 January 1973 – the Vietnam War formally ends with a treaty signed between the USA, North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
27 January 1984 – Michael Jackson’s hair catches on fire while he is singing ‘Billy Jean’ during filming of a Pepsi commercial.
27 January 2014 – death of Peter Seeger, American singer-songwriter, musician, activist. Born 3 May 1919.