maddogとは 意味・読み方・使い方

名詞

mad dog (複数形 mad dogs)

1. A rabid dog.
2. (figuratively, by extension) Someone who is aggressive and fanatical; an aggressor who cannot be reasoned with.
   • 1843, Hernán Cortés, translated by George Folsom, Letters and Dispatches of Cortés:

     Although the enemy saw that they were being hurt, they were such mad dogs that we could by no means prevent their pursuing us

   • 1996, Evan Thomas, The Very Best Men: Four Who Dared: The Early Years of the CIA, page 232-233:

     But in 1992, Bissell still maintained, "Lumumba and Sukarno were two of the worst people in public life I've ever heard of. They were mad dogs. Castro I saw not as a mad dog but as a purposeful antagonist. I believed that they were dangerous to the United States. There was a widespread belief that societies in the noncommunist world were exceedingly fragile, susceptible to being destroyed by these demagogues."

   • 2007, Henry Van Dyke, The Valley of Vision, →ISBN, page 96:

     We went gladly, without fear or holding back. We were resolute that those mad dogs should not get through. 'They shall not pass'! And they did not pass!" "Glorious!" cried the priest, drinking the story in.

   • 2009, Alan Filreis, Counter-revolution of the Word, →ISBN:

     Even their "soft tones" infuriated Bogan: "Stop the mad dogs of Fascism," these young communists mildly offered, "help our boys dodging Franco's bombs."

形容詞

mad-dog (comparative more mad-dog, superlative most mad-dog)

1. Fanatically or irrationally ferocious.
   • 1908, The Spectator - Volume 100, page 748:

     It takes a professor to arrive at so mad-dog a state of mind.

   • 1975, J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, ISBN 9633818354:

     In the Broad Walk you meet all the people who are worth knowing, and there is usually a grown-up with them to prevent them going on the damp grass, and to make them stand disgraced at the corner of a seat if they have been mad-dog or Mary-Annish.

   • 2011, Les Standiford, Havana Run: A John Deal Mystery, ISBN 1615953086:

     You probably never heard of Mr. Dobbins, since it looks like you live in some other dimension, but Dobbins happens to be the most mad-dog, publicity-hungry attorney to walk the planet.

使用する際の注意点

It can be difficult to distinguish between the standard practice of inserting a hyphen into a noun phrase when it is used attributively (that is, using mad-dog for the noun phrase mad dog) and the use of this term as a genuine adjective. There is evidence that this form is sometimes used as a genuine adjective, as can be seen in the quotations. However, the most common usage is as an attributive noun.