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Bedlam

//ˈbɛdləm// name, noun, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A hamlet in Clint cum Hamlets parish, Harrogate borough, North Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE2661).
  2. 2
    A hamlet in Bitterley parish, south Shropshire, England (OS grid ref SO5877).
  3. 3
    A hamlet in Great Elm parish, Mendip district, Somerset, England (OS grid ref ST7549).
  4. 4
    Bethlem Royal Hospital, a famous psychiatric hospital, now located in Bromley, South London. informal
Noun
  1. 1
    A place or situation of chaotic uproar, and where confusion prevails. countable, uncountable

    "Some of the wards were veritable "bedlams," and discharged patients have told of abuses practiced in them of which the mere recital causes a shudder."

  2. 2
    pejorative terms for an insane asylum wordnet
  3. 3
    An insane person; a lunatic; a madman. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "Lets follow the old Earle, and get the bedlom To lead him where he would, his rogiſh madnes Allows it ſelfe to any thing."

  4. 4
    a state of extreme confusion and disorder wordnet
  5. 5
    A lunatic asylum; a madhouse. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "It was a ſhrewd ſaying of the old Monk, That two kind of Priſons would ſerve for all offenders in the World, an Inquiſition and a Bedlam: If any man ſhould deny the Being of a God and the Immortality of the Soul, ſuch a one ſhould be put into the firſt of these, the Inquiſition, as being a deſperate Heretick; but if any man ſhould profeſs to believe theſe things, and yet allow himſelf in any known wickedneſs, ſuch a one ſhould be put into Bedlam; becauſe there cannot be a greater folly and madneſs, than for a man in matters of greateſt moment and concernment to act againſt his beſt Reaſon and Underſtanding, and by his Life to contradict his Belief."

Etymology

From Bedlam, alternative name of the English lunatic asylum, Bethlem Royal Hospital (royal hospital from 1375, mental hospital from 1403) (earlier St Mary of Bethlehem outside Bishopsgate, hospice in existence from 1329, priory established 1247), since used to mean “a place or situation of madness and chaos”. Bedlam as name of hospital attested 1450. Phonologically, corruption of Bethlem, itself a corruption of Bethlehem (the Biblical town), from Ancient Greek Βηθλεέμ (Bēthleém) from Biblical Hebrew בֵּית לֶחֶם (bêṯ leḥem, literally “house of bread”). However, also compare Spanish belén (“confusion, disorder; a place characteristic of such”).

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