bedlam

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.

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.

A lunatic asylum; a madhouse.

It was a ſhrewd ſaying of the old Monk, That two kind of Priſons would ſerve for all offenders in the World, an Inquiſition and a Bedlam: If any man ſhould deny the Being of a God and the Immortality of the Soul, ſuch a one ſhould be put into the firſt of these, the Inquiſition, as being a deſperate Heretick; but if any man ſhould profeſs to believe theſe things, and yet allow himſelf in any known wickedneſs, ſuch a one ſhould be put into Bedlam; becauſe there cannot be a greater folly and madneſs, than for a man in matters of greateſt moment and concernment to act againſt his beſt Reaſon and Underſtanding, and by his Life to contradict his Belief.

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.

A hamlet in Clint cum Hamlets parish, Harrogate borough, North Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE2661).

A hamlet in Bitterley parish, south Shropshire, England (OS grid ref SO5877).

A hamlet in Great Elm parish, Mendip district, Somerset, England (OS grid ref ST7549).

Bethlem Royal Hospital, a famous psychiatric hospital, now located in Bromley, South London.