Dictionary

haywire en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• (Australia) audio
• /ˈheɪ.waɪɚ/ (US)
• /ˈheɪ.waɪ.ə(ɹ)/ (UK)

Etymology

From hay + wire. The original meaning of “likely to become tangled unpredictably or unusably, or fall apart”, as though only bound with the kind of soft, springy wire used to bind hay bales comes from usage in New England lumber camps circa 1905 where haywire outfit became the common term to refer to slap-dash collections of logging tools. To go haywire has since evolved to represent the act of falling apart or behaving unpredictably, as would wire spooled under tension springing into an unmanageable tangle once a piece had been removed from the factory spool, e.g., “he took off the back of his watch, removed a gear and the whole works went haywire.”

Meanings

1. Roughly-made, unsophisticated, decrepit (from the use of haywire for temporary repairs).
2. Behaviorally erratic or uncontrollable, especially of a machine or mechanical process.
   • Temperatures soared—the seas warmed by as much as eighteen degrees—and the chemistry of the oceans went haywire, as if in an out-of-control aquarium. 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 103:
   • "I got phone orders at Tuolumne Meadows to pack up and come over Sunrise Trail. Started at sunrise. Everything haywire, including cranky pack horse which kept getting off trail. Phoned in at Vernal Falls station. Ordered to hurry down, help catch two auto thieves which broke jail just after breakfast. Assigned to guard Coulterville Road. 1928, Horace Marden Albright, Frank J. Taylor, chapter 1, in "Oh, Ranger!": A Book about the National Parks, page 1:
   • The engineer who makes of his calling a burden, who sees nothing but the wrong, or imposition as he may term it, who fancies perhaps that the whole world has conspired against him, who commences to damn things as soon as he appears upon the scene of his labors, and continues to damn everything, including his train crew, the engine, the officers, and almost everything, animate and inanimate, while making the round trip, is working out his own destiny, and it is but charitable to say of such a man that he is not well, his digestion has gone " hay wire " as it were. 1905 May 14, J. W. Reading, “Engine Failures”, in Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Monthly Journal, volume XXXIX, number 5, page 423:
   • It was working fine until it went haywire and wouldn't stop printing blank sheets.
   • Those kids go haywire when they don't get what they want.

Forms

Deriveds

go haywire · haywireness

Translations (36)

fr détraqué (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · pl chaotyczny (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · ru ненорма́льный (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · hu elromlik (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · bg изперкал (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · sh uneređeno (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · pl prosty (roughly-made, unsophisticated, decrepit) · pl w cały świat (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · es caótico (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · es irse la olla (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · da amok (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · eo senbrida (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · hu megzavarodik (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · hu megőrül (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · de durcheinander (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · hu tönkremegy (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · bg калпав (roughly-made, unsophisticated, decrepit) · hu összezavarodik (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · hu megkergül (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · it confuso (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · fi oikutteleva (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · hu kiborul (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · fr détraquée (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · sh šlampavo (roughly-made, unsophisticated, decrepit) · bg нахвърлян (roughly-made, unsophisticated, decrepit) · hu megbolondul (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · de drunter und drüber (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · sh spetljano (roughly-made, unsophisticated, decrepit) · ru беспоря́дочный (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · fr broche à foin (roughly-made, unsophisticated, decrepit) · it impazzito (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · fi karkeatekoinen (roughly-made, unsophisticated, decrepit) · hu bedilizik (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · pl nieskomplikowany (roughly-made, unsophisticated, decrepit) · es fuera de control (behaving erratically or uncontrollably) · bg побъркан (behaving erratically or uncontrollably)

haywire en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• (Australia) audio
• /ˈheɪ.waɪɚ/ (US)
• /ˈheɪ.waɪ.ə(ɹ)/ (UK)

Etymology

From hay + wire. The original meaning of “likely to become tangled unpredictably or unusably, or fall apart”, as though only bound with the kind of soft, springy wire used to bind hay bales comes from usage in New England lumber camps circa 1905 where haywire outfit became the common term to refer to slap-dash collections of logging tools. To go haywire has since evolved to represent the act of falling apart or behaving unpredictably, as would wire spooled under tension springing into an unmanageable tangle once a piece had been removed from the factory spool, e.g., “he took off the back of his watch, removed a gear and the whole works went haywire.”

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Wire used to bind bales of hay.
   • MOWERS AND HAY RAKES, HAY PRESSES, HAY TIES AND HAY WIRE. 1886 May 6, W. A. Huffman Implement Company, “Superior Lawn Mowers!”, in Fort Worth Daily Gazette, page 7:

Forms

Relateds

spit and baling wire

Synonyms

baler twine

Translations (4)

pl drut do wiązania bel siana (wire used to bind bales of hay) · fi paalauslanka (wire used to bind bales of hay) · de Bindedraht (wire used to bind bales of hay) · ru вяза́льная про́волока (wire used to bind bales of hay)

haywire en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• (Australia) audio
• /ˈheɪ.waɪɚ/ (US)
• /ˈheɪ.waɪ.ə(ɹ)/ (UK)

Etymology

From hay + wire. The original meaning of “likely to become tangled unpredictably or unusably, or fall apart”, as though only bound with the kind of soft, springy wire used to bind hay bales comes from usage in New England lumber camps circa 1905 where haywire outfit became the common term to refer to slap-dash collections of logging tools. To go haywire has since evolved to represent the act of falling apart or behaving unpredictably, as would wire spooled under tension springing into an unmanageable tangle once a piece had been removed from the factory spool, e.g., “he took off the back of his watch, removed a gear and the whole works went haywire.”

Meanings

1. (rare, transitive) To attach or fix with haywire.

Forms

Relateds

lose one's cool · go bonkers · blow up · tearing up Jack · come unglued