/kɹeɪz/
OriginFrom 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”).
- A strong habitual desire or fancy.
- A temporary passion or infatuation, as for some new amusement, pursuit, or fashion; a fad.
“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.”
- A crack in the glaze or enamel caused by exposure of the pottery to great or irregular heat.
- archaicCraziness; insanity.
“‘A poor fellow with a craze, sir,’ said Mr. Dick, ‘a simpleton, a weak-minded person […] may do what wonderful people may not do. […]’”
- archaicTo weaken; to impair; to render decrepit.
“till length of years / And ſedentary numneſs craze my limbs”
- To derange the intellect of; to render insane.
“any man […] that is crazed and out of his wits”
“Grief hath crazed my wits.”
- To be crazed, or to act or appear as one that is crazed; to rave; to become insane.
“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: [...]”
- archaic, intransitive, transitiveTo break into pieces; to crush; to grind to powder. See crase.
“God looking forth will trouble all his Hoſt / And craze thir Chariot wheels:”
- intransitive, transitiveTo crack, as the glazing of porcelain or pottery.
Formscrazes(plural) · crase(alternative) · craise(alternative) · craize(alternative) · crazes(present, singular, third-person) · crazing(participle, present) · crazed(participle, past) · crazed(past)