mænad

plural mænads · plural mænades

1. archaicArchaic form of maenad.

   Even in the uttermost frenzy of energy is each mænad movement royally, imperially, incedingly upborne.

   1853 January, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Vashti”, in Villette. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 191

   3 more examples

   VVild yuie) for it is dedicated to Bacchus & therefore it is ſayd that the Mænades (that is Bacchus franticke prieſtes) vſed in theyr ſacrifice to carry Thyrſos, vvhich vvere pointed ſtaues or Iauelins, vvrapped about vvith yuie.

   1579, E. K., “[October. Ægloga Decima.] Glosse.”, in Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 43, verso

   The ſecrets of the good goddeſs are knovvn, vvhen the pipe the loins / Incites; and alſo vvith the horn, and vvith vvine, the Mænads of Priapus / Are driven, aſtoniſhed, and toſs their hair and hovvl.

   1789, Juvenal, “Satire VI”, in M[artin] Madan, transl., A New and Literal Translation of Juvenal and Persius; […], volume I, London: […] [F]or the editor, and sold at T. Becket’s, […], →OCLC, page 273, lines 313–315

   I, a most enamoured maiden / Whose weak brain is overladen / With the pleasure of her love, / Maniac-like around thee move / Gazing, an insatiate bride, / On thy form from every side / Like a Mænad, round the cup / Which Agave lifted up / In the wierd^([sic – meaning weird]) Cadmæan forest.

   1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, pages 146–147