automaniac
English edit
Pronunciation edit
- Rhymes: -eɪniæk
Etymology 1 edit
Of auto- (“oneself”) + -maniac (“one who experiences obsession”).[1] Attested from the 19th century.
Noun edit
automaniac (plural automaniacs)
- A person who is self-involved to the point of mental illness.
Etymology 2 edit
Of auto (“automobile”) + -maniac (“one who experiences obsession”).[2] Attested from the early 20th century. Compare automania.
Noun edit
automaniac (plural automaniacs)
- An enthusiast of automobiles and motoring.
- 1902 July 23, “Record Breaking ‘Tours’”, in The Horseless Age, volume 10, page 81:
- A foolish dissipation, ending in broken rest, depleted purses, broken laws, broken automobiles, and broken bones. […] Is the cost not heavy enough to bring even an automaniac to his senses?
- 1902, “The Automaniac”, in Massachusetts Medical Journal, page 551:
- There seems to be need of a term to designate these new terrors of our streets, those speed crazed paranoiacs who are now doing so much to bring the automobile into disrepute. […] The word “automaniac,” suggested by The Horseless Age, seems quite appropriate […] Why not adopt the name “automania” for the disease and the automaniac to designate the person afflicted by it?
- A road hog.
Translations edit
an enthusiast of automobiles and motoring
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References edit
- ^ “automaniac, n.1”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2018.
- ^ “automaniac, n.2”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2018.
