delirium Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun state of violent mental agitation
    fury; frenzy; craze; hysteria.
  2. noun a usually brief state of excitement and mental confusion often accompanied by hallucinations

WordNet

De*lir"i*um noun
Etymology
L., fr. delirare to rave, to wander in mind, prop., to go out of the furrow in plowing; de- + lira furrow, track; perh. akin to G. geleise track, rut, and E. last to endure.
Definitions
  1. (Med.) A state in which the thoughts, expressions, and actions are wild, irregular, and incoherent; mental aberration; a roving or wandering of the mind, -- usually dependent on a fever or some other disease, and so distinguished from mania, or madness.
  2. Strong excitement; wild enthusiasm; madness.
    The popular delirium [of the French Revolution] at first caught his enthusiastic mind. W. Irving.
    The delirium of the preceding session (of Parliament). Motley.
    Syn. -- Insanity; frenzy; madness; derangement; aberration; mania; lunacy; fury. See Insanity.

Webster 1913