madder

Multiple Entries:
  madder    mad  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
madder/ˈmadə/

▶noun a plant related to the bedstraws, with roots that yield a red dye. [Rubia tinctorum and other species.]

■ a red dye or pigment obtained from the madder plant.

– origin OE mædere, of Gmc origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
mad/mad/

▶adjective (madder, maddest)

• 1 mentally ill; insane.

  ■ extremely foolish or ill-advised.

  ■ (of a dog) rabid.

• 2 informal frenzied; frantic.

• 3 informal very enthusiastic about something. [in combination] he's football-mad.

• 4 informal very angry.

▶verb (mads, madding, madded) archaic make mad.

– phrases
like mad informal with great intensity, energy, or enthusiasm.
mad keen Brit. informal very enthusiastic.

– derivatives
madly adverb,
madness noun.

– origin OE gemǣd(e)d ‘maddened’, participial form rel. to gemād ‘mad’, of Gmc origin.