hysteric

• hysterick (obsolete)

From Latin hystericus, from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (husterikós, “suffering in the uterus, hysterical”), from ὑστέρα (hustéra, “womb”).

• IPA^(key): /hɪsˈtɛɹɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɪk

hysteric (comparative more hysteric, superlative most hysteric)

1. (medicine) Hysterical; relating to hysteria.
   • 1781, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Critic: Or A Tragedy Rehearsed , London: T Becket, , →OCLC, Act I, scene i, pages 4–5:

     Yes, my dravving-room is an abſolute regiſter-office for candidate actors, and poets vvithout character;—then to be continually alarmed vvith Miſſes and Ma'ams piping hiſteric changes on Juliets and Dorindas, Pollys and Ophelias; […]

   • 1969, Edmund Bergler, Selected Papers of Edmund Bergler, 1933-1961, page 697:

     We also find gamblers of this type among some frigid hysteric women, who seem to treat gambling as they treat men, coldly and spongingly.

hysteric (plural hysterics)

1. A hysterical person.
   • 1956, Norman Mailer, The Man Who Studied Yoga:

     “Which girl was it now?” he asks a second time. ¶ “Oh, you know, the hysteric,” Eleanor says, “the one who was parading her bazooms in your face.”

• Like many terms that start with a non-silent h but have emphasis on their second syllable, some people precede hysteric with an, others with a.

• “hysteric”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “hysteric”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Chrystie