adj. (old).—1. See quot. 1696.
1593. SHAKESPEARE, Comedy of Errors, ii. 1. Why, mistress, sure my master is HORN-MAD.
1599. HENRY PORTER, The Two Angry Women of Abingdon (DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 304). And then I winded my horn, and he’s HORN-MAD.
1604. MARSTON, The Malcontent, i., 7. I am HORN MAD.
1605. JONSON, Volpone, or the Fox, iii., 6.
| Yet I’m not mad; | |
| Not HORN-MAD, see you? |
1639–61. Rump Songs [1662], 293. The Country is grown sad, the City is HORN MAD.
1647. BEAUMONT and FLETCHER, The Woman’s Prize, ii., 6.
| After my twelve strong labours to reclaim her, | |
| Which would have made Don Hercules HORN MAD. |
1693. CONGREVE, The Old Bachelor, iv., 22. Ay, I feel it here; I sprout; I bud; I blossom; I am ripe HORN-MAD.
1694. CONGREVE, The Double Dealer, iv., 20. She forks out cuckoldom with her fingers, and you are running HORN-MAD after your fortune. Ibid. (1695), Love for Love, v., 8. She’s mad for a husband, and he’s HORN-MAD.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. HORN-MAD, stark staring Mad, because Cuckolded.
1698. FARQUHAR, Love and a Bottle, iv., 3. Thou’rt HORN-MAD. Prithee, leave impertinence.
1725. A New Canting Dictionary, s.v.
1822. SCOTT, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxvi. Ye might as well expect brandy from beanstalks, or milk from a crag of blue whunstane. The man is mad, HORN-MAD, to boot.
1825. HARRIETTE WILSON, Memoirs, ii. 228. The little he did say was chiefly on the subject of cuckolds and cuckolding. His lordship was HORN-MAD.
2. (venery).—Sexually excited; lecherous; MUSTY (q.v.). Also, HORNY.
