berserker
A Norse warrior who purportedly fought in a trance-like frenzyA Norse warrior who purportedly fought in a trance-like frenzy; a berserk.
» He turned into berserker mode.
Amastan · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 senses(historical)A Norse warrior who purportedly fought in a trance-like frenzy; a berserk.
Berserker, Berserk
берсе́ркерbersérker, берсе́ркbersérk, береза́ркberezárk
(broadly)One who fights as if frenzied, like a berserker.
(broadly)A type of von Neumann probe whose mission is to exterminate alien lifeforms.
- one of the ancient Norse warriors legendary for working themselves into a frenzy before a battle and fighting with reckless savagery and insane fury
Examples
2 sentencesHe turned into berserker mode.
Zipang The Power Polack, a ferocious Polish berserker, flailed around wildly, charging into enemy ranks crazily without armor.
Translations
4 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
Borrowed from Old Norse berserkr (“Norse warrior who fights with frenzy”), probably from bBorrowed from Old Norse berserkr (“Norse warrior who fights with frenzy”), probably from bjǫrn (“bear”) + serkr (“coat; shirt”), referring to the bearskins worn by the warriors. Bjǫrn is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”); and serkr from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, tie together; thread”). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the first element of the word is from berr (“bare, naked”), suggesting warriors who went into battle without armour, but this is now thought unlikely. Doublet of berserk.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: berserkersSynonyms
1 synonyms- one of the ancient Norse warriors legendary for working themselves into a frenzy before a battle and fighting with reckless savagery and insane fury:berserk