Word of the Day

: March 15, 2010

haywire

adverb or adjective HAY-wyre

What It Means

1 : being out of order or having gone wrong

2 : emotionally or mentally upset or out of control : crazy

haywire in Context

The company's e-mailing system went haywire and sent out multiple copies of the advertisement to its subscribers.

Did You Know?

The wire used in baling hay -- haywire -- is often used in makeshift repairs. This hurried and temporary use of haywire gave rise to the adjective "haywire." When the adjective was first used in the early 20th century, it was primarily found in the phrase "haywire outfit," which originally denoted a poorly equipped group of loggers and then anything that was flimsy or patched together. This led to a "hastily patched-up" sense, which, in turn, gave us the more commonly used meaning, "being out of order or having gone wrong." The "crazy" sense of "haywire" may have been suggested by the difficulty of handling the springy wire, its tendency to get tangled around legs, or the disorderly appearance of the temporary repair jobs for which it was used.