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

Adjective

go haywire Informal to stop functioning properly

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. out of order, out of commission, on the blink (slang) on the fritz (slang)

adjective 2. (of a person) crazy, wild, mad, potty Brit. (informal) berserk, bonkers (slang), chiefly Brit. loopy (informal) mad as a hatter, berko Austral. (slang) off the air Austral. (slang) porangi N.Z.

Translations

haywire [ˈheɪwaɪəʳ] adj (col): to go haywire [person] → volverse loco (= plan); irse al garete

haywire [ˈheɪwaɪəʳ] adj (inf);

to go haywire → perdre la tête; mal tourner

haywire [ˈheɪwaɪəʳ] (inf) adj to go haywire (machine) → verrücktspielen;

(plans etc) → über den Haufen geworfen werden

haywire [ˈheɪwaɪəʳ] adj (col): to go haywire → perdere la testa; impazzire