like a chicken with its head cut off

Idioms  

1. In a frenzied manner, distractedly, crazily. For example, She ran around the station looking for her lost bag like a chicken with its head cut off. This graphic simile alludes to the fact that the body of a chicken whose head has been cut off sometimes totters about crazily before succumbing.

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Example Sentences

“We were running around like a chicken with its head cut off, throwing stuff into the car. Then we say, ‘Okay, that’s it … we got to go.”

From Seattle Times • Jul. 15, 2021

My mother would say they acting like a chicken with its head cut off.

From Slate • Mar. 31, 2020

“Once I finished running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I thought it was kind of cool,” she said.

From Washington Times • Jul. 5, 2014

To keep your head together … I felt directionless, like a chicken with its head cut off.

From The Guardian • Jul. 14, 2011

I mean, I like my Mom and all that, but she runs around like a chicken with its head cut off.

From "The Pigman" by Paul Zindel

Related Words

• agitated
• anxious
• concerned
• confused
• crazy
• distressed
• frantic
• hysterical
• mad
• perturbed
• tormented
• troubled