bedlam

See also: Bedlam

English

Etymology

From Bedlam, alternative name of the English lunatic asylum, Bethlem Royal Hospital (royal hospital from 1375, mental hospital from 1403) (earlier St Mary of Bethlehem outside Bishopsgate, hospice in existence from 1329, priory established 1247), since used to mean “a place or situation of madness and chaos”. Bedlam as name of hospital attested 1450.

Phonologically, corruption of Bethlem, itself a corruption of Bethlehem (the Biblical town), from Ancient Greek Βηθλεέμ (Bēthleém) from Biblical Hebrew בֵּית לֶחֶם‎ (bêṯ leḥem, literally “house of bread”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛdləm/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

bedlam (plural bedlams)

1. A place or situation of chaotic uproar, and where confusion prevails.
   • 1888, H.H. Giles, The Insane, and the Wisconsin System for their Care, page 18:

     Some of the wards were veritable "bedlams," and discharged patients have told of abuses practiced in them of which the mere recital causes a shudder.

   • 2002, Mark L. Friedman, Everyday Crisis Management, page 134:

     The outside of the Hyatt was bedlam. There was a group of more than a hundred injured people on the circular drive in front of the hotel.

   • 2005, Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go, page 31:

     A car was a rarity, and the sight of one in the distance was sometimes enough to cause bedlam during a class.

   • 2020 June 3, Sam Mullins OBE discusses with Stefanie Foster, “LTM: a new chapter begins at 40”, in Rail, page 54:

     "We had an extraordinary February half term - I think we had 22,000 visitors in the seven days. Which actually is a bit like bedlam at times."

2. (obsolete) An insane person; a lunatic; a madman.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vii]:

     Let's follow the old Earl, and get the Bedlam
     To lead him where he would; his roguish madness
     Allows itself to anything.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, →OCLC:

     The pilgrims were clothed with such kind of raiment as was diverse from the raiment of any that traded in that fair. The people, therefore, of the fair, made a great gazing upon them: some said they were fools, some they were bedlams, and some they are outlandish men.

3. (obsolete) A lunatic asylum; a madhouse.
   • 1720, Archbishop Tillotson, The works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, page 43:

     But if any man should profess to believe these things, and yet allow himself in any known wickedness, such a one should be put into bedlam.

   • 1823 December 17, [Lord Byron], Don Juan. Cantos XII.—XIII.—and XIV., London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for John Hunt, […], →OCLC, canto XIV, stanza lxxxiv:

     Shut up the world at large, let Bedlam out;
     And you will be perhaps surprised to find
     All things pursue exactly the same route,
     As now with those of soi-disant sound mind.

   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the page number)”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC:

     “There’s another fellow,” muttered Scrooge; who overheard him: “my clerk, with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas. I’ll retire to Bedlam.”

   • 1962 [c. 1909], Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], edited by Bernard DeVoto, Letters from the Earth, New York: Harper & Row:

     […] only the holy can stand the joys of that bedlam.

Derived terms

• all bedlam breaks loose

Descendants

• → Russian: бедла́м (bedlám)

Translations

place or situation of chaos

• Armenian: գժանոց (hy) (gžanocʿ)
• Danish: galehus n
• Dutch: gekkenhuis (nl)
• Esperanto: pandemonio (eo)
• Finnish: hullunmylly (fi), sekasorto (fi), kaaos (fi)
• French: cour du roi Pétaud (fr), pétaudière (fr)
• German: Tollhaus (de) n, Irrenhaus (de) n, Chaos (de) n
• Hungarian: tébolyda (hu), bolondokháza (hu), őrültekháza (hu)
• Plautdietsch: Klommua m
• Polish: bajzel (pl) m
• Portuguese: alvoroço (pt) m, cafarnaum (pt) m, motim (pt) m, tumulto (pt) m
• Romanian: balamuc (ro) n, haos (ro) n, zăpăceală (ro) f
• Russian: бедла́м (ru) (bedlám), ха́ос (ru) (xáos), барда́к (ru) (bardák), сумасше́дший дом (ru) (sumasšédšij dom)
• Spanish: pandemonio , caos (es) m
• Ukrainian: бедлам (uk) m (bedlam), божевільня (uk) f (boževilʹnja)

Further reading

• Bethlem Royal Hospital on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “bedlam”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• ambled, balmed, beldam, blamed, lambed