Haywire

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈheɪ.waɪ.É™(ɹ)/
• US IPA: /ˈheɪ.waɪɚ/

Origin

hay + wire

To go haywire possibly originally referred to the tendency of wire spooled under tension and used in the baling of hay to spring into an unmanageable tangle once a piece had been removed from the factory spool, e.g., "he took off the back of his watch, removed a gear and the whole works went haywire." Or a tendency of slap-dash repairs done with scraps of baling wire to fail catastrophically at times of mechanical stress. Perhaps the meaning of haywire – all in disarray or disrepair – stems from this expression.

Full definition of haywire

Noun

1. Wire used to bind bales of hay.
• 1886-05-06, W. A. Huffman Implement Company, Superior Lawn Mowers!MOWERS AND HAY RAKES, HAY PRESSES, HAY TIES AND HAY WIRE.

Synonyms

• baler twine

Adjective

1. Roughly-made, unsophisticated, decrepit (from the use of haywire for temporary repairs).
2. Behaving erratically or uncontrollably, especially of a machine or mechanical process; usually used with the verb "go".
• It was working fine until it went haywire and wouldn't stop printing blank sheets.
• Those kids go haywire when they don't get what they want.
• 1928, Horace Marden Albright, ‎Frank J. Taylor, "Oh, Ranger!": A Book about the National Parks Chapter 1"I got phone orders at Tuolumne Meadows to pack up and come over Sunrise Trail. Started at sunrise. Everything haywire, including cranky pack horse which kept getting off trail. Phoned in at Vernal Falls station. Ordered to hurry down, help catch two auto thieves which broke jail just after breakfast. Assigned to guard Coulterville Road.

Related terms

• come unglued verb
• tearing up Jack
• lose one's cool
• blow up emotionally
• go bonkers emotionally