来自于13世纪伦敦Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem, 一所专门收治精神病人的医院。bedlam为Bethlehem的变体。
英文词源
bedlam
bedlam: [15] The word bedlam is a contraction of Bethlehem. It comes from the Hospital of St Mary of Bethlehem founded in 1247 by Simon FitzMary, Sheriff of London, as the Priory of St Mary Bethlehem. Situated outside Bishopsgate, in the City of London, the hospital began to admit mental patients in the late 14th century. In the 16th century it officially became a lunatic asylum. The word bedlam came to be used for any ‘madhouse’, and by extension for a ‘scene of noisy confusion’, in the 17th century.
bedlam (n.)
"scene of mad confusion," 1660s, from colloquial pronunciation of "Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem" in London, founded 1247 as a priory, mentioned as a hospital 1330 and as a lunatic hospital 1402; converted to a state lunatic asylum on dissolution of the monasteries in 1547. It was spelled Bedlem in a will from 1418, and Betleem is recorded as a spelling of Bethlehem in Judea from 971.
双语例句
1. The crowd went absolutely mad. It was bedlam.
人们彻底疯了。乱成了一团。
来自柯林斯例句
2. It was bedlam at our house on the morning of the wedding.
婚礼的那天早上，我们家闹哄哄的。
来自《权威词典》
3. He is causing bedlam at the hotel.
他正搅得旅馆鸡犬不宁。
来自辞典例句
4. When the teacher was called away the classroom was a regular bedlam.
当老师被叫走的时候,教室便喧闹不堪.
来自辞典例句
5. What's happening in that room? It's ( like ) bedlam in there.