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  1. berserk love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Destructively or frenetically violent: a berserk worker who started smashing all the windows.
  2. adj. Mentally or emotionally upset; deranged: berserk with grief.
  3. adj. Informal Unrestrained, as with enthusiasm or appetite; wild: berserk over chocolates.
  4. n. One that is violent, upset, or unrestrained.
  5. n. A berserker.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Same as berserker.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A crazed Norse warrior who fought in a frenzy.
  2. adj. Injuriously, maniacally, or furiously violent or out of control.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Scand. Myth.) One of a class of legendary heroes, who fought frenzied by intoxicating liquors, and naked, regardless of wounds.
  2. n. One who fights as if frenzied, like a Berserker.
  3. adj. frenzied; crazed; usually in predicate position.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. one of the ancient Norse warriors legendary for working themselves into a frenzy before a battle and fighting with reckless savagery and insane fury
  2. adj. frenzied as if possessed by a demon

Etymologies

  1. Old Norse berserkr (Icelandic berserkur), probably from bjǫrn ("bear") + serkr ("coat"), compare sark. (Wiktionary)
  2. Back-formation from berserker. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “You know he's a Scot; men of that country are" - I tried to think of a good synonym for "berserk" - "most fierce where questions of their honor are concerned.”

    Dragonfly in Amber

  • “Our expression going berserk pays homage to these warriors who, according to Fabing, ingested a psychoactive substance that put them into a state of frenzied rage, reckless courage, and enhanced physical strength.”

    Simon & Schuster: The Serpent and the Rainbow

  • “When one understands and fully appreciates this inner world of the post traumatic stress victim, it is easier to understand why a veteran can go "berserk" killing his family and then taking his own life.”

    Bryant Welch: Fort Hood: A Harbinger of Things to Come?

  • “Britney Spears, apparently, as well, one of the big magazines saying that she went "berserk" at a photo shoot.”

    CNN Transcript Jul 25, 2007

  • “Bridezillas," by the way, is a WE (ph) TV show all about brides that go kind of berserk while planning their weddings.”

    CNN Transcript Jun 13, 2006

  • “And what about your "berserk" episode on Bournemouth Station?”

    Disordered Minds

  • “Her arms came around him and he lifted her up, jammed her back against the bulkhead and, putting his mouth against the side of her neck, rammed into her with a kind of berserk fury.”

    Black Blade

  • “A US flight attendant who went "berserk" on a passenger and bailed out of his plane has quickly turned into something of a folk hero in the United States and around the world.”

    AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)

  • “Animals are going "berserk" as more and more of their land is taken over by humans and cattle eat their food.”

    Yahoo! News: Latest news headlines News Headlines | Top Stories

  • “In June 2008 she was ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service for kicking and spitting at police officers after going "berserk" on an aircraft.”

    icHuddersfield

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synonyms (2)

Words with the same meaning

  1. frenzied
  1. crazed

equivalents (2)

Other words for ‘berserk’

  1. insane
  1. berserker

hypernyms (3)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. Norse
  1. Scandinavian
  1. Northman

same context (25)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. berserker
  2. type
  3. ungovernable
  4. uninhabitable
  5. inoperable
  1. certifiable
  2. addle
  3. maniacal
  4. illegible
  5. homicidal
  1. flabbergasted
  2. genocidal
  3. drug-fueled
  4. insensate
  5. unstoppable
  1. unselfconscious
  2. unrecognizable
  3. demented
  4. undetectable
  5. uncontrollable
  1. half-mad
  2. mind-blowing
  3. bonkers
  4. apoplectic
  5. overbuilt

rhymes (35)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. Berk
  2. Burk
  3. Burke
  4. Dirk
  5. Kirk
  6. Merc
  7. Turk
  1. berk
  2. birk
  3. burke
  4. cirque
  5. clerk
  6. derk
  7. dirk
  1. erk
  2. irk
  3. jerk
  4. kirk
  5. lurk
  6. merc
  7. merck
  1. merk
  2. murk
  3. overwork
  4. perc
  5. perk
  6. quirk
  7. rework
  1. sherk
  2. shirk
  3. smirk
  4. sterk
  5. turk
  6. werk
  7. work

reverse dictionary (2)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. baresark
  1. berserk

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Lists

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Comments

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  • bilby Backformation. Feb 18, 2010

  • qroqqa He neither knows himself nor his outriders, he berserks a fearful dimension and dismounts, miraculously, in bed!
    —Djuna Barnes, Nightwood

    A highly unusual use of 'berserk' as a verb. Note also the (to me somewhat strange) unbalanced placement of 'neither . . . nor'.
    Nov 21, 2008

  • Prolagus In the queue for lunch they take the piss, you've got no appetite
    And the rumour is you never go with boys and you are tight
    So they jab you with a fork, you drop the tray and go berserk
    While you're cleaning up the mess the teacher's looking up your skirt.

    (Expectations, by Belle and Sebastian) Jun 14, 2008

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‘berserk’ has been looked up 2800 times, loved by 8 people, added to 55 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 13.