berserk
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L313759 on Wikidata ↗noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L316947 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈbɜːsɜːk/ / /ˈbɚˌsɚk/ / /bəˈzɜːk/
adj
Etymology: The noun is borrowed from Old Norse berserkr (“Norse warrior who fights in a frenzy”), probably from bjǫrn (“bear”) + serkr (“coat; shirt”), referring to the bearskins which the warriors wore. Bjǫrn is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”); and serkr from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, tie together; thread”). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the first element of the word is from berr (“bare, naked”), referring to warriors who went into battle without armour, but this is now thought unlikely. Doublet of berserker. The adjective is derived from the noun. The verb might partly be a back-formation from berserker, analyzed as containing the suffix -er. Cognates * Icelandic berserkur * Norwegian Bokmål berserk * Norwegian Nynorsk berserk * Swedish bärsärk
- Furiously, injuriously, or maniacally violent or out of control.
“After seeing his sister stabbed to death, he went berserk and attacked the killer like a wild animal.”
“'You went Berserk. I've read all about it in Hypatia.' […] 'You've gone Berserk and pretty soon you'll go to sleep. But you'll probably be liable to fits of it all your life,' Beetle concluded.”
- Bizarre; weird.
“[T]he writer conjured up a dystopian fantasy more berserk than anything you might find yourself listening to in the small hours at the Stone Circle.”
- Wildly joyous; ecstatic.
“In amongst the strife, Scott McTominay, whose stoppage-time winner against Israel sent Hampden berserk, and Ryan Christie offered signs of an attacking pulse.”
noun
Etymology: The noun is borrowed from Old Norse berserkr (“Norse warrior who fights in a frenzy”), probably from bjǫrn (“bear”) + serkr (“coat; shirt”), referring to the bearskins which the warriors wore. Bjǫrn is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”); and serkr from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, tie together; thread”). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the first element of the word is from berr (“bare, naked”), referring to warriors who went into battle without armour, but this is now thought unlikely. Doublet of berserker. The adjective is derived from the noun. The verb might partly be a back-formation from berserker, analyzed as containing the suffix -er. Cognates * Icelandic berserkur * Norwegian Bokmål berserk * Norwegian Nynorsk berserk * Swedish bärsärk
- Synonym of berserker (“a Norse warrior who fought in a frenzy”).
“She had heard of his profligacy, his bursts of fierce Berserk-madness; and yet now these very faults, instead of repelling, seemed to attract her, and intensify her longing to save him.”
“The Professor, with his face flushed, his nostrils dilated, and his beard bristling, was now in a proper Berserk mood.”
verb
Etymology: The noun is borrowed from Old Norse berserkr (“Norse warrior who fights in a frenzy”), probably from bjǫrn (“bear”) + serkr (“coat; shirt”), referring to the bearskins which the warriors wore. Bjǫrn is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”); and serkr from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, tie together; thread”). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the first element of the word is from berr (“bare, naked”), referring to warriors who went into battle without armour, but this is now thought unlikely. Doublet of berserker. The adjective is derived from the noun. The verb might partly be a back-formation from berserker, analyzed as containing the suffix -er. Cognates * Icelandic berserkur * Norwegian Bokmål berserk * Norwegian Nynorsk berserk * Swedish bärsärk
- To be or become berserk.
“When great champions went berserking and were angry, they lost their human nature and went mad like dogs.”
“I suppose losing one hand made Stack especially sensitive to the possible loss of another. The wound was superficial, but he berserked. He killed the native with a riot gun, then turned it on the rest of them. A lieutenant had to bludgeon him into unconsciousness before he could be stopped.”
- To make berserk.
“He neither knows himself nor his outriders; he berserks a fearful dimension and dismounts, miraculously, in bed!”
“O holy Virgin, whereabout / Were you when all the swinish rout / Berserked the town? Those legions of the dead / Move only at the lash of lust. / Pray for us, or we die to trust— / Charred matchwood cursing Christ, who also bled.”