Pan|ic

pan|ic¹ «PAN ihk», noun, adjective, verb, -icked, -ick|ing.

–n.

1. a fear affecting an individual or spreading through a whole group of persons or animals so that they lose control of themselves; unreasoning fear: »

When the theater caught fire there was panic in the audience.

2. an outbreak of widespread alarm, as in a community, over financial or commercial matters, which tends to demoralize judgment and lead to hasty, ill-advised measures to avoid loss.

3. Slang. a very amusing person or thing: »

His costume is a panic.

–adj.

caused by panic; showing panic; unreasoning: »

panic fear.

SYNONYM(S): panicky, frantic.

–v.i.

to be affected with panic: »

The audience panicked when fire broke out in the theater.

–v.t.

1. to affect with panic: »

Orson Welles, who panicked his fellow Americans with the great Martian invasion broadcast in 1938 (Newsweek).

2. Slang. to make (an audience) laugh; amuse greatly: »

His jokes simply panic me.

╂[< Middle French panique < Greek Pānikós of Pan (because he was said to cause contagious fear in herds and crowds)]

pan|ic² «PAN ihk», noun.

1. foxtail millet, cultivated in southern Europe for its edible grain.

2. = panic grass. (Cf. ↑panic grass)

╂[< Latin pānīcum foxtail millet < pānus ear of millet; (originally) thread. Compare etym. under panicle. (Cf. ↑panicle)]

Pan|ic «PAN ihk», adjective.

of or having to do with Pan or the terror supposed to be caused by him.