bedlam

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A place or situation of chaotic uproar, and where confusion prevails.

   “Some of the wards were veritable "bedlams," and discharged patients have told of abuses practiced in them of which the mere recital causes a shudder.”

   “The outside of the Hyatt was bedlam. There was a group of more than a hundred injured people on the circular drive in front of the hotel.”

   “A car was a rarity, and the sight of one in the distance was sometimes enough to cause bedlam during a class.”

   “"We had an extraordinary February half term - I think we had 22,000 visitors in the seven days. Which actually is a bit like bedlam at times."”

2. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)An insane person; a lunatic; a madman.

   “Lets follow the old Earle, and get the bedlom To lead him where he would, his rogiſh madnes Allows it ſelfe to any thing.”

   “Firſt, The Pilgrims were cloathed with ſuch kind of Raiment, as was diverſe from the Raiment of any that Traded in that fair. The people therefore of the fair made a great gazing upon them: Some ſaid they were Fools, ſome they were Bedlams, and ſome they are Outlandiſh-men.”

3. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A lunatic asylum; a madhouse.

   “Shut up the world at large, let Bedlam out; And you will be perhaps surprised to find All things pursue exactly the same route, As now with those of soi-disant sound mind.”

   ““There ’s another fellow,” muttered Scrooge; who overheard him: “my clerk, with fifteen shillings a-week, and a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas. I ’ll retire to Bedlam.””

   “Make a note of it: in man’s heaven there are no exercises for the intellect, nothing for it to live upon. It would rot there in a year—rot and stink. Rot and stink—and at that stage become holy. A blessed thing: only the holy can stand the joys of that bedlam.”

name

1. A hamlet in Clint cum Hamlets parish, Harrogate borough, North Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE2661).
2. A hamlet in Bitterley parish, south Shropshire, England (OS grid ref SO5877).
3. A hamlet in Great Elm parish, Mendip district, Somerset, England (OS grid ref ST7549).
4. (informal)Bethlem Royal Hospital, a famous psychiatric hospital, now located in Bromley, South London.