amuck

[uh-muhk]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR amuck ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

mad with murderous frenzy.

noun

amok.

Idioms

run/go amuck,

to rush about in a murderous frenzy: The maniac ran amuck in the crowd, shooting at random.
to rush about wildly; lose self-control: When the nightclub caught fire the patrons ran amuck, blocking the exits.

Origin of amuck

First recorded in 1510–20; variant of amok

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for amuck

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

Examples from the Web for amuck

Historical Examples of amuck

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.
The Red Cow and Her Friends
Peter McArthur
I fancied for awhile that one of their number must have run "amuck," and the rest meant to send him to slumber.
Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa (1899-1900)
A. G. Hales

British Dictionary definitions for amuck

amuck

noun, adverb

a variant of amok

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.