haywire
pronunciation
How to pronounce haywire in British English:
UK [ˈheɪwaɪə(r)]
How to pronounce haywire in American English:
US ['heɪwaɪər]
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- Noun:
- wire for tying up bales of hay
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- Adjective:
- informal or slang terms for mentally irregular
- not functioning properly
Word Origin
- haywire (n.)
- "soft wire for binding bales of hay," by 1891, from hay + wire (n.). Adjective meaning "poorly equipped, makeshift" is 1905, American English, from the sense of something held together only with haywire, particularly said to be from use of the stuff in New England lumber camps for jury-rigging and makeshift purposes, so that hay wire outfit became the "contemptuous term for loggers with poor logging equipment" [Bryant, "Logging," 1913]. Its springy, uncontrollable quality led to the sense in go haywire (by 1915).
Example
- 1. At first sight , it looks like china 's economy went haywire in january .
- 2. Those years saw my sleep go haywire , my body grow fat , and my sense of self shatter .
- 3. But again , haywire just quietly stares at him .
- 4. As the thinner ecosystems were strained and overwhelmed by the inevitable perturbations of volcanic activity or changes in earth 's orbit , the planet went a bit haywire .
- 5. One question , for starters , is what might happen if that " neural network " were to go haywire , or be sabotaged .