Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- (among members of certain Southeast Asian cultures) a psychic disturbance characterized by depression followed by a manic urge to murder.
adjective
- run/go amok. amuck(def 3).
noun
- a state of murderous frenzy, originally observed among Malays
adverb
- run amok to run about with or as if with a frenzied desire to kill
in verbal phrase run amok first recorded 1670s, from Malay amuk “attacking furiously.” Earlier the word was used as a noun or adjective meaning “a frenzied Malay,” originally in the Portuguese form amouco or amuco.
There are some of them [the Javanese] who … go out into the streets, and kill as many persons as they meet. … These are called Amuco. [“The Book of Duarte Barbosa: An Account of the Countries Bordering on the Indian Ocean and Their Inhabitants,” c.1516, English translation]
Cf. amuck.