haywire
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Related to haywire: go haywire
hay·wire
(hā′wīr′)n.
Wire used in baling hay.
adj. Informal
1. Not functioning or happening in a proper or orderly fashion: machinery that went haywire; an experiment that went haywire.
2. Mentally confused or erratic; crazy: The traveler went haywire over the endless delays.
[From the use of baling wire for makeshift repairs .]
Word History: Why should wire used in baling hay be a metaphor for something that is not functioning properly or for a person who is crazy? It would seem a story of semantics gone haywire. From the written record, it appears the use originated among North American loggers around 1900, who often used haywire to make repairs. These repairs were often considered shoddy or unreliable, and haywire developed the general sense "makeshift, inefficient," from which come the extended senses "not functioning properly" and "crazy."
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
haywire
(ˈheɪˌwaɪə)adj (postpositive)
1. (of things) not functioning properly; disorganized (esp in the phrase go haywire)
2. (of people) erratic or crazy
[C20: alluding to the disorderly tangle of wire removed from bales of hay]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
hay•wire
(ˈheɪˌwaɪər)n.
1. wire used to bind bales of hay.
adj. 2. in disorder.
3. out of control; disordered; crazy.
[1900–05]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
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Noun | 1. | haywire - wire for tying up bales of hay wire - ligament made of metal and used to fasten things or make cages or fences etc |
Adj. | 1. | haywire - informal or slang terms for mentally irregular; "it used to drive my husband balmy" bats, batty, bonkers, buggy, crackers, daft, dotty, kookie, kooky, loco, around the bend, balmy, nuts, round the bend, wacky, whacky, nutty, barmy, loopy, fruity, cracked insane - afflicted with or characteristic of mental derangement; "was declared insane"; "insane laughter" |
2. | haywire - not functioning properly; "something is amiss"; "has gone completely haywire"; "something is wrong with the engine" malfunctioning, nonfunctional - not performing or able to perform its regular function; "a malfunctioning valve" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
haywire
adjective
1. chaotic, confused, disordered, tangled, mixed up, shambolic (informal), topsy-turvy, disorganized, disarranged Many Americans think their legal system is haywire.
2. out of order, out of commission, on the blink (slang), on the fritz (slang) Her pacemaker went haywire near hand dryers.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations
سِلْك مَعْدَني
pomatenýrozbitý
skudder-mudder
bilaîur; klikkaîur
pomätený
kontroldan çıkmışsapıtmış
haywire
[ˈheɪwaɪəʳ] ADJ to go haywire [person] → volverse loco, perder la chaveta; [machine] → averiarse, malograrse (LAm); [scheme etc] → irse a piquethe switchboard went haywire → se colapsó la centralita
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
haywire
[ˈheɪwaɪər] adjto go haywire [system, procedure] → être détraqué(e), être chamboulé(e)
Work schedules have gone haywire → Le planning de travail a été chamboulé.
Things went haywire → Tout s'est détraqué.
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
haywire
adj pred (inf) to be (all) haywire → (vollständig) durcheinander or ein Wirrwarr (inf) → sein; the local economy is all haywire again → die örtliche Wirtschaft ist wieder im Chaos versunken (inf); to go haywire (= go crazy) → durchdrehen (inf); (plans, arrangements) → durcheinandergeraten, über den Haufen geworfen werden (inf); (machinery) → verrücktspielen (inf)
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
haywire
[ˈheɪˌwaɪəʳ] adj (fam) to go haywire (person) → dare i numeri, perdere la testa; (machine) → impazzire; (scheme, system) → andare a catafascioCollins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
hay
(hei) noun grass, cut and dried, used as food for cattle etc.
ˌhay-ˈfever noun an illness like a bad cold, caused by the pollen of flowers etc.
ˈhayrick (-rik) , ˈhay-stack nouns hay built up into a large pile.
ˈhaywire adjective in a state of disorder; crazy. Our computer has gone haywire.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.