Berserk
violently or destructively frenzied; wild; crazed; deranged:
He suddenly went berserk.
(sometimes initial capital letter) Scandinavian Legend.. Also, berserker. an ancient Norse warrior who fought with frenzied rage in battle, possibly induced by eating hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Contemporary Examples
Is Obama the New Nixon? Lee Siegel September 14, 2009
Historical Examples
Erling the Bold R.M. Ballantyne
Erling the Bold R.M. Ballantyne
Parrot & Co. Harold MacGrath
Erling the Bold R.M. Ballantyne
A Sea Queen’s Sailing Charles Whistler
The Black Buccaneer Stephen W. Meader
Canute the Great Laurence Marcellus Larson
A Fleet in Being Rudyard Kipling
Erling the Bold R.M. Ballantyne
adjective
frenziedly violent or destructive (esp in the phrase go berserk)
noun
Also called berserker. a member of a class of ancient Norse warriors who worked themselves into a frenzy before battle and fought with insane fury and courage
adj.
Thorkelin, in the essay on the Berserkir, appended to his edition of the Krisini Saga, tells that an old name of the Berserk frenzy was hamremmi, i.e., strength acquired from another strange body, because it was anciently believed that the persons who were liable to this frenzy were mysteriously endowed, during its accesses, with a strange body of unearthly strength. If, however, the Berserk was called on by his own name, he lost his mysterious form, and his ordinary strength alone remained. [“Notes and Queries,” Dec. 28, 1850]
The adjectival use probably is from such phrases as berserk frenzy, or as a title (Arngrim the Berserk).
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