haywire

hay·wire  (hwr)

n.

Wire used in baling hay.

adj. Informal

1. Mentally confused or erratic; crazy: went haywire over the interminable delays.

2. Not functioning properly; broken.

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[From the use of baling wire for makeshift repairs .]

Word History: Why should the word for something as functional and mundane as haywire have come to be applied to something that is not functioning properly or to a person who is crazy? It would seem a story of semantics gone haywire. Haywire is a compound of the words hay and wire, originally simply denoting wire used to bale hay or straw. The term is first recorded as a noun in a debate in the Canadian House of Commons (1917), so it is a Canadianism or, since it appeared soon thereafter in a U.S. publication, a North Americanism. We find an earlier (1905) attributive use in the phrase hay wire outfit, a term used contemptuously for poorly equipped loggers. What lies behind this term is the practice of making repairs with haywire. Haywire is found in other contexts with the general sense "makeshift, inefficient," from which come the extended senses "not functioning properly" and "crazy."

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haywire [ˈheɪˌwaɪə]

adj (postpositive) Informal

1. (of things) not functioning properly; disorganized (esp in the phrase go haywire)

2. (of people) erratic or crazy

[alluding to the disorderly tangle of wire removed from bales of hay]

Thesaurus

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, loony, 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" amiss, awry, wrong malfunctioning, nonfunctional - not performing or able to perform its regular function; "a malfunctioning valve"

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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.

3. (of people) crazy, wild, mad, potty (Brit. informal), berserk, bonkers (slang, chiefly Brit.), loopy (informal), mad as a hatter I went haywire in our first few weeks on holiday.

Translations

haywire [ˈheɪwaɪəʳ] ADJ to go haywire [person] → volverse loco, perder la chaveta; [machine] → averiarse, malograrse(LAm); [scheme etc] → irse a pique
the switchboard went haywire → se colapsó la centralita

haywire [ˈheɪwaɪə^r] adj
to 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.

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)

haywire [ˈheɪˌwaɪəʳ] adj (fam) to go haywire (person) → dare i numeri, perdere la testa; (machine) → impazzire; (scheme, system) → andare a catafascio

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haywire [ˈheɪˌwaɪəʳ] adj (fam) to go haywire (person) → dare i numeri, perdere la testa; (machine) → impazzire; (scheme, system) → andare a catafascio