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amuck

[uh-muhk]
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adjective
  1. mad with murderous frenzy.
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noun
  1. amok.
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Idioms
  1. run/go amuck,
    1. to rush about in a murderous frenzy: The maniac ran amuck in the crowd, shooting at random.
    2. to rush about wildly; lose self-control: When the nightclub caught fire the patrons ran amuck, blocking the exits.
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Origin of amuck

First recorded in 1510–20; variant of amok
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

berserk, insanely, madly, savagely, violently, wildly, destructively, ferociously, maniacally, uncontrollably

Examples from the Web for amuck

Historical Examples

  • His brow was amuck with sweat: he was trembling in every limb; his ears were scarlet.

    Terribly Intimate Portraits

    Nol Coward

  • Sure, and he climbed in at the window, and white as a haddock, and all amuck with sweat.

    The Deemster

    Hall Caine

  • Maniac named Kraskow amuck with freighter Prometheus, known to contain huge bomb!

    Big Pill

    Raymond Zinke Gallun

  • I learned to swing an axe by cutting down saplings, and ran "amuck" among them just as my elders did among the larger trees.

  • I fancied for awhile that one of their number must have run "amuck," and the rest meant to send him to slumber.

British Dictionary definitions for amuck

amuck

noun, adverb
  1. a variant of amok
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for amuck

adv.

17c., variant of amok; treated as a muck by Dryden, Byron, etc., and defended by Fowler, who considered amok didacticism.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper