craze

English

Alternative forms

• crase, craise, craize (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English crasen (“to crush, break, break to pieces, shatter, craze”), from Old Norse *krasa (“to shatter”), ultimately imitative.

Cognate with Scots krass (“to crush, squeeze, wrinkle”), Icelandic krasa (“to crackle”), Norwegian krasa (“to shatter, crush”), Swedish krasa (“to crack, crackle”), Danish krase (“to crack, crackle”), Faroese kras (“small pieces”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɹeɪz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪz

Noun

craze (plural crazes)

1. (archaic) craziness; insanity.
   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, , published 1850, →OCLC:

     ‘A poor fellow with a craze, sir,’ said Mr. Dick, ‘a simpleton, a weak-minded person […] may do what wonderful people may not do. […] ’

2. A strong habitual desire or fancy.
3. A temporary passion or infatuation, as for some new amusement, pursuit, or fashion; a fad.
   • 2012, Alan Titchmarsh, The Complete Countryman: A User's Guide to Traditional Skills and Lost Crafts:

     Winemaking was a huge craze in the 1970s, when affordable package holidays to the continent gave people a taste for winedrinking, but the recession made it hard to afford off-license prices back home.

4. (ceramics) A crack in the glaze or enamel caused by exposure of the pottery to great or irregular heat.

Derived terms

• becraze
• crazeless
• crazen
• crazy

Translations

See also

• fad
• trend

Verb

craze (third-person singular simple present crazes, present participle crazing, simple past and past participle crazed)

1. (archaic) To weaken; to impair; to render decrepit.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, .”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J. M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 39, lines 571–572:

     till length of years / And ſedentary numneſs craze my limbs

2. To derange the intellect of; to render insane.
   • 1664, John Tillotson, “Sermon I. The Wisdom of Being Religious. Job XXVIII. 28.”, in The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: , 8th edition, London: T. Goodwin, B Tooke, and J. Pemberton, ; J. Round , and J Tonson] , published 1720, →OCLC:

     any man […] that is crazed and out of his wits

   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Grief hath crazed my wits.

3. To be crazed, or to act or appear as one that is crazed; to rave; to become insane.
   • 1820, John Keats, “Robin Hood”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, , →OCLC, page 135:

     And if Robin should be cast / Sudden from his turfed grave, / And if Marian should have / Once again her forest days, / She would weep and he would craze: [...]

4. (transitive, intransitive, archaic) To break into pieces; to crush; to grind to powder. See crase.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 1100–1101:

     God looking forth will trouble all his Hoſt / And craze thir Chariot wheels:

5. (transitive, intransitive) To crack, as the glazing of porcelain or pottery.

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Rezac