barmy

[ bahr-mee ]
See synonyms for barmy on Thesaurus.com
adjective,barm·i·er, barm·i·est.
  1. containing or resembling barm; frothy.

  2. British Slang. balmy (def. 4).

Origin of barmy

1
1525–35; barm + -y1; def. 2 probably respelling of balmy by r-less speakers

Words Nearby barmy

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

How to use barmy in a sentence

  • If to many it also seemed barmy, it was a flamboyant, newsworthy sort of barminess.

    The Best of Brit Lit | Peter Stothard | April 22, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • None of them except barmy Sid once visited his rooms; nor did he find it at all easy to strike up even a staircase acquaintance.

    Sinister Street, vol. 2 | Compton Mackenzie
  • I've got a sort of a paralytic stroke running up and down my arm fit to drive anybody barmy.

    Carnival | Compton Mackenzie
  • Well, then, hall Hi can say his hit sounds like barmy Yankee nonsense to me.

    The Glory of The Coming | Irvin S. Cobb
  • "Of course, I know you were a bit barmy before you came here, and don't remember anything about it," he went on to say.

    Upsidonia | Archibald Marshall
  • It seemed to me a very rummy thing that Tom should have any idea that I was supposed to have been what he called barmy.

    Upsidonia | Archibald Marshall

British Dictionary definitions for barmy

barmy

/ (ˈbɑːmɪ) /


adjective-mier or -miest
  1. slang eccentric or foolish: Also: balmy

Origin of barmy

1
C16: originally, full of barm, hence frothing, excited, flighty, etc

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