Meaning of maenad | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A female follower of Dionysus (“the god of wine”), associated with intense revelling.
   Greek, also, attributive
2. An excessively emotional or wild woman.
   broadly, derogatory, literary

Equivalents

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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“All about the walls hung pen and oil sketches of fantastic sea-monsters; dances of satyrs and menads; […]”

“We know from the subjects of his [Scopas's] famous statues recorded by ancient writers, such as the raving Menad, that his works were replete with life, movement and passion.”

“When Dionysus came to Thebes, Pentheus, king of Thebes, tried to arrest him and his wild maenads; but Pentheus went mad (capturing a bull whom he mistook for Dionysus), and the maenads escaped and tore him limb from limb.”

“With her back to the figure of Dionysos and partially visible from the front of the krater, this Derveni maenad stands balanced on the toes of her right foot, with her left foot, also on the toes, a little behind it[…].”

“Blanche Stroeve was in the cruel grip of appetite. Perhaps she hated Strickland still, but she hungered for him, and everything that had made up her life till then became of no account. She ceased to be a woman, complex, kind and petulant, considerate and thoughtless; she was a Maenad. She was desire.”

CEFR level