go haywire

Cultural Dictionary

go haywire definition


To break down or cease to function properly: “Everything was going smoothly until the computer started to go haywire.”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

00:10

00:09

00:08

00:07

00:06

00:05

00:04

00:03

00:02

00:01

Go haywire is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
Slang Dictionary

go haywire definition


  1. in.
    [for a person] to go berserk. : Sorry, I guess I just went haywire for a minute.
  2. in.
    [for something] to go out of order; to break down. : I'm afraid my car's gone haywire. It won't start.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

go haywire

Become wildly confused, out of control, or crazy. For example, The plans for the party have gone haywire, or His enemies accused the mayor of going haywire. This term alludes to the wire used for bundling hay, which is hard to handle and readily tangled. [First half of 1900s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature