batchy en · ADJ · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
Meanings
-
(UK, slang) Of unsound mind, crazy; lacking good sense or judgment, silly.
1926, U.K. House of Commons, Report from the Select Committee on Nursing Homes (Registration), London: H.M.S.O., p. 195, I was speaking to the matron about different cases in her home, and she said to me, to use her own expression, that this woman was “batchy”; she meant that she was mentally affected after her operation.
“Roll up your sleeve, Alice, and I will make you happier than you’ve ever been.” She shook her head. “Sod off. I’ve heard of that stuff. Sends you batchy.”
1997, Maureen Jennings, chapter 11, in Except the Dying, New York: St. Martin’s Press, page 127:It’s batchy to get married at eighteen.
1962, Alan Sillitoe, Key to the Door, New York: Knopf, Part 4, Chapter 26, p. 386:
-
(obsolete, slang) Experiencing a loss of courage and self-control.
[…] two of them [the crew] were now temporarily incapable of either good or harm. They had gone quite “batchy” with fright, requiring a not too gentle application of the tiller to their heads in order to keep them quiet.
1898, Frank T. Bullen, chapter 5, in The Cruise of the “Cachalot,”, London: Smith, Elder, page 39:“Does that mean we have to go out in those small boats?” he asked of Sherwood […]. “Nothing less! But buck up, old man, and don’t go batchy, as these whalers call it!”
1925, Patrick Casey, chapter 10, in Sea Plunder, Boston: Small, Maynard, pages 68–69:He’d seen a great deal older and more seasoned men than that lot go batchy through fatigue or some inexplicable, inner nervous flaw.
1958, Robert Carse, chapter 6, in Great Circle,, New York: Bantam, page 73:
Synonyms
crazy as a pet coon · crazy as a cootie bug · meshigener · harebrained · psycho · nucking futs · crazed · crackers · daffy · nutso · eccentric · fruit loops · crazy · loon · cracked · nutballs · fucked up · batshit · daft · batty · cray · zany · non compos mentis · tonto · barmy · batchy · cuckoo · lunatic · yampy · cray-cray · psychotic · bughouse · 5150 · weird · mental · hatstand · barmy · batty · mentally ill · barking mad · nut job · loony · dotty · mad · gaga · batpoop · disturbed · loco · apeshit · whacky · deranged · cra-cra · loopy · rattled · bread baskets · unnerved · nuts · potty · bonkers · doolally · off the beam · batcrap · meshugge · kooky · insane · screwy · demented · unbalanced · over the edge · whackjob · nerts · starkers · distraught · buggish · wode · nutter · crazy as a bedbug · bananas · sicko · squirrelly · off the chain · fucked in the head · bats · moonsick · bat-shit · buggy · unsane · barking · nutty · wackadoodle · crazy as a cootie · whacko · psychoceramic · loony tunes · nut · ripshit · nonsane