Englishrun amok
Meaning: To run around in a frenzied or disorderly way.
Example: “The toddlers ran amok in the china department.”
Equivalents in other languages
German: außer Rand und Band geraten Literally: To get out of edge and band
Origin: One of the very few words English has taken from Malay. Amuk described something specific and culturally recognized in the Malay world: a sudden, uncontrollable homicidal frenzy in which a person, often after a period of withdrawal and brooding, attacked indiscriminately until subdued or killed. European traders and colonial officials encountered the phenomenon from the 1500s onward and carried the word back through Portuguese and then English; Captain Cook described it in an account from 1772, and it appears in English writing well before that. Western medicine later treated amok as a culture-bound syndrome, an illness whose form was shaped by the society it occurred in. The modern English sense — chaotic and out of control, but rarely violent — is a considerable softening of what the word originally named.
More English idioms
- run circles around someone To outperform someone by a wide margin; to be better than someone.
- run its course To follow a natural progression without interference.
- run-of-the-mill Ordinary or usual.
- sales pitch A speech or presentation designed to persuade someone to buy or do something.
- save something for a rainy day To save something, usually money, for a possible future need.
- say a mouthful To say something important or true; often said in agreement.
Explore another collection: Compliments & Insults
Compliments and insults from around the world, from the sweet to the savage.
- Tu es mon rayon de soleil A warm way to tell someone they brighten your day.
- Joli comme un cœur Utterly charming or adorable.
- Tu as un cœur d'or You are genuinely kind and generous.
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