nutty as a fruitcake

English

Alternative forms

• nutty as a fruit cake

Etymology

1914.

Adjective

nutty as a fruitcake

1. (simile, colloquial) Behaving in an eccentric, foolish, or kooky manner; very nutty.
   • 2003, William Safire / NY Times News Service, "Fruitcake: A word that gets the US Congress to call the cops", Taipei Times , 10 Aug, p. 9,

     Eugene O'Neill, in his 1914 play, The Movie Man, coined a memorable simile: "We sure are as nutty as a fruitcake or we wouldn't be here."

Synonyms

• barmy, crazy, daffy, dotty, loopy, mad, wacky, zany

References

• "nutty as a fruitcake" in the Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.