haywire

[ hey-wahyuhr ]
See synonyms for haywire on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. wire used to bind bales of hay.

adjectiveInformal.
  1. in disorder: The town is haywire because of the bus strike.

  2. out of control; disordered; crazy: The car went haywire. He's been haywire since he got the bad news.

Origin of haywire

1
First recorded in 1900–05; hay + wire

Words Nearby haywire

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use haywire in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for haywire

haywire

/ (ˈheɪˌwaɪə) /


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

  2. (of people) erratic or crazy

Origin of haywire

1
C20: alluding to the disorderly tangle of wire removed from bales of hay

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with haywire

haywire

see go haywire.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.