mad rush

1. A wild, frantic hurry to go somewhere or to obtain something. I love watching all the students in a mad rush to get to their classes after the bell. Shoppers across the country are always in a mad rush to pick up products at staggeringly low prices on Black Friday. Let's stop off somewhere for lunch—there's no mad rush to get to the airport.

2. A frantic, hasty surge in some activity, especially because of some time constraint. With only a month to go, we all made a mad rush to get the software finished on time before the release date. Getting everything taken care of in such a short amount of time was a bit of a mad rush, but we got it done in the end.

mad rush

A wild hurry, as in I was in a mad rush to get to the bank on time to cash my check, or Why the mad rush? We have lots of time before the concert starts. The use of in a rush for "being in a hurry" dates from the second half of the 1800s, and mad, for "frenzied," serves merely as an intensifier.

a mad rush

COMMON A mad rush is when people try to go somewhere or do something very quickly, in an uncontrolled way. There was a mad rush to avoid being left behind. The bomb landed in the middle of the dance floor causing panic and a mad rush for the doors.