panic
noun
- sudden sensation of fear
verb
- feel sudden overwhelming fear
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈpænɪk/ / [ˈpʰænɪk] / /ˈpeə̯nɪk/
adj
Etymology: From Pan + -ic.
- Synonym of Pandean (“pertaining to the Greek god Pan”).
noun
Etymology: From Late Middle English panik, panyk (“plant of the genus Panicum”), borrowed from Latin pānicum, pānīcum (“foxtail millet or Italian millet (Setaria italica); plant of the genus Panicum, panicgrass”); further etymology uncertain, probably either from pānis (“bread; loaf”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to graze; to protect; to shepherd”)) or pānus (“ear of millet; thread wound on a bobbin”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- (“to twist; to weave”)) + -cum (suffix forming neuter nouns). Doublet of bannock and bonnag
- Foxtail millet or Italian millet (Setaria italica), the second-most widely grown species of millet.
- A plant of the genus Panicum, or of similar plants of other genera (especially Echinochloa and Setaria) formerly included within Panicum; panicgrass or panic grass.
“[folio 76, recto] Panicum […] hathe no name in Engliſh yet⸝ but it may well be called panick after yͤ Latin. Panik hath leues lyke vnto a rede when it commeth firſt furth. […] [folio 76, verso] Dioſcorides writeth yͭ Panic hathe the ſame vertue yͭ Milleth hathe⸝ but that it noriſheth & byndeth leſſe. Galene ſayeth yͭ panic is of the kynde of pulſes⸝ and in lykenes lyke vnto millet⸝ and alſo in vertue of ſmall noriſhmẽt⸝ and dry.”
“There be ſundrie ſorts of Panick, although of the ancients there hathe beene ſet downe but two, that is to ſay, the wilde or fielde Panick, and the garden or manured Panick: […]”
- The edible grain obtained from one of the above plants.
“Pannick ſtoppeth the laske as Millet doth, being boiled (as Plinie reporteth) in Goates milk and drunke twiſe in a day. Bread made of Pannick nouriſheth little, and is cold and dry, verie brittle, hauing in it neither clammineſſe, nor fatneſſe; and therefore it drieth a moiſt belly.”
verb
Etymology: The adjective is borrowed from Middle French panique, a word itself borrowed from Ancient Greek πανικός (panikós, “pertaining to Pan”); Pan, the Greek god of fields and woods, was believed to be the source of mysterious sounds that caused contagious, groundless fear in herds and crowds, or in people in lonely spots. Adjective sense 3 (“pertaining to or resulting from overpowering fear or fright”) is partly an attributive use of the noun. The noun is derived from the adjective, while the verb is derived from the noun. Verb sense 1.3 (“to highly amuse, entertain, or impress (an audience watching a performance or show”) is derived from noun sense 4 (“a highly amusing or entertaining performer, performance, or show”).
- To cause (someone) to feel panic (“overwhelming fear or fright”); also, to frighten (someone) into acting hastily.
“He told us he'd almost stepped on Ellen's body that night—dead and stiffening. Then I'd come round the corner and hailed him, and that panicked him.”
- To cause (a computer system) to crash.
“If your new driver has an error that panics the system when you load the driver, then the system will panic again when it tries to reboot after the panic. The system will continue the cycle of panic, reboot, and panic as it attempts to reload the faulty driver every time it reboots after panic.”
- To highly amuse, entertain, or impress (an audience watching a performance or show).
- To feel panic, or overwhelming fear or fright; to freak out, to lose one's head.
“I don't want you to be hopeful, I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day and then I want you to act.”
- Of a computer system: to crash.