(Australia, UK, colloquial) Mildly insane or eccentric; often, senile.
Mr. Fox stopped digging and stared at Badger as though he had gone completely dotty. "My dear old furry frump," he said, "do you know anyone in the whole world who wouldn't swipe a few chickens if their children were starving to death?" 1970, Roald Dahl, Fantastic Mr. Fox, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, page 45:
JILL: Horses? ... You're really dotty, aren't you? ... What do you mean? 1973, Peter Shaffer, “Act II, Scene 32”, in Equus, page 99:
"Good God! I don't want another accident here. I should go dotty if I had to face all that again." 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 152:
My nan has got dottier and dottier since passing the age of eighty.
Knockers in this part of the world seem intended for ornament only, — nobody seems to pay any attention to them when they’re used. The old lady upstairs must be either deaf or dotty. 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
Etymology tree
English dot
Proto-Indo-European *-kos
Proto-Germanic *-gaz
Proto-West Germanic *-g
Old English -iġ
Middle English -y
English -y
English dotty
From dot + -y.
Etymology tree
English dot
Proto-Indo-European *-kos
Proto-Germanic *-gaz
Proto-West Germanic *-g
Old English -iġ
Middle English -y
English -y
English dotty
From dot + -y.
Meanings
(Multicultural-London-English) A shotgun.
Never bummy but I'm scummy fam, I used to burgle houses
Then some OGs was consignin me them ounces
Wet man round me had me feeling like I’m drownin
Fam we really went there with a brownin
Me and next man really went there with a dotty
05 murder squad nicked me for a [censored] 2013, “Mad Years”, in Potter Payper (lyrics), Training Day, performed by Potter Payper:
I’m out here from the night till dawn
The dotty’s out but I like it sawn 2020, “Respawn”, Cillian (lyrics), chorus:
They dont know what I’ve been through
Red dot on his head like a hindu
Scrams, Face just stack for the Wesson
Ca’ be the gunplay that we’re into
It’s like them man chill with the singer
Two dot dots there in the dinger
Yard man’s got a dotty in the rave
But he’s still tryna do the La Linga
We’ve had guns and shanks without awareness
We’ve had guns and shanks we’re so fearless 2017, “Mad About Bars”, TMula (lyrics), performed by 86 (TMula x Scrams):
Bro I’m booky, I’ll take your food if my belly starts rumblin
They rap about bootings, they ain’t blammed nobody
Hold that properly when I bang that dotty
I put sniff in a rex, and I slang that bobby 2017, “Next Up?”, Digga D (lyrics), performed by 1011 (Digga D x Sav'O x T.Y):