stir-crazy
See also: stir crazy
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFirst attested around 1925, from prison slang stir (“jail or prison”).[1]
Pronunciation
editAudio (General Australian): (file)
Adjective
editstir-crazy (comparative more stir-crazy, superlative most stir-crazy)
- (slang) Of a prisoner, mentally unbalanced due to prolonged incarceration.
- (slang, by extension) Restless, uncomfortable, or impatient due to inactivity or confinement.
- After so many days of rain, the kids started to get a bit stir-crazy.
- 2020 March 19, Megan Garber, “The Utter Weirdness of Small Talk in a Pandemic”, in The Atlantic[1]:
- And many, at the same time, are anxious and bored and underemployed and overemployed and stir-crazy and uncertain and lonely and terrified.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “stir-crazy”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.