hysterics

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hysterics

1. plural of hysteric

hysterics pl (plural only)

1. Hysteria; a bout of hysteria.

   Her hysterics are uncontrollable.

   The jokes had me in hysterics.

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Last Night with the Dead”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 317:

     But when they went to tread down the earth, it seemed to her like sacrilege; and, forgetting every thing in one strong emotion, she sprang forward to prevent it. The effort was too much; and, for the first time, she sank back in the arms of the servants in strong hysterics!

   • 1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 24:

     "How such swooning daughters can do it, constantly fainting and having hysterics, is a mystery to me," said Muriel Jane. "Ho, they're a pretty sly lot," said Silvander Dan.

• in hysterics

• histrionics