'Like mad' definitions:

Definition of 'like mad'

adverb

With great speed or effort or intensity; "drove like crazy"; "worked like hell to get the job done"; "ran like sin for the storm cellar"; "work like thunder"; "fought like the devil" [syn: like hell, like mad, like crazy, like sin, like thunder, like the devil]

Definition of 'Like mad'

From: GCIDE

Mad \Mad\, a. [Compar. Madder; superl. Maddest.] [AS. gem?d, gem[=a]d, mad; akin to OS. gem?d foolish, OHG. gameit, Icel. mei?a to hurt, Goth. gam['a]ids weak, broken. ?.]
1. Disordered in intellect; crazy; insane. [1913 Webster]
I have heard my grandsire say full oft, Extremity of griefs would make men mad. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
2. Excited beyond self-control or the restraint of reason; inflamed by violent or uncontrollable desire, passion, or appetite; as, to be mad with terror, lust, or hatred; mad against political reform. [1913 Webster]
It is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols. --Jer. 1. 88. [1913 Webster]
And being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. --Acts xxvi. 11. [1913 Webster]
3. Proceeding from, or indicating, madness; expressing distraction; prompted by infatuation, fury, or extreme rashness. "Mad demeanor." --Milton. [1913 Webster]
Mad wars destroy in one year the works of many years of peace. --Franklin. [1913 Webster]
The mad promise of Cleon was fulfilled. --Jowett (Thucyd.). [1913 Webster]
4. Extravagant; immoderate. "Be mad and merry." --Shak. "Fetching mad bounds." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
5. Furious with rage, terror, or disease; -- said of the lower animals; as, a mad bull; esp., having hydrophobia; rabid; as, a mad dog. [1913 Webster]
6. Angry; out of patience; vexed; as, to get mad at a person. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster]
7. Having impaired polarity; -- applied to a compass needle. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster]
Like mad, like a mad person; in a furious manner; as, to run like mad. --L'Estrange.
To run mad. (a) To become wild with excitement. (b) To run wildly about under the influence of hydrophobia; to become affected with hydrophobia.
To run mad after, to pursue under the influence of infatuation or immoderate desire. "The world is running mad after farce." --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'like mad'

From: Moby Thesaurus

a corps perdu,
all to pieces,
carelessly,
demonically,
desperately,
fanatically,
fiercely,
frantically,
frenetically,
furiously,
happen what may,
hastily,
head over heels,
headfirst,
headforemost,
headlong,
heedlessly,
heels over head,
helter-skelter,
holus-bolus,
hotheadedly,
hotly,
hurriedly,
hurry-scurry,
impetuously,
like a flash,
like a shot,
like a streak,
like blazes,
like crazy,
like fury,
like greased lightning,
like lightning,
like one possessed,
like sin,
like sixty,
madly,
overeagerly,
overenthusiastically,
overzealously,
precipitantly,
precipitately,
precipitously,
ramble-scramble,
recklessly,
rigorously,
severely,
slam-bang,
slap-bang,
slapdash,
uncontrollably,
vehemently,
venomously,
violently,
virulently,
wantonly,
wildly,
with a vengeance