Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus./US) completely deranged, utterly furious.

1914		Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Dec. 18/3: [H]e confided to me as one worm to another – which may have been right, but it made me mad as a snake, though he never suspected it.
1919		L. Esson Drovers (1977) 4: The Boss is mad as a snake.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 339: When they find they been jilted, go mad as snakes, get out the gun, saddle up — and a-huntin’ we will go.
1944		A. Marshall These Are My People (1957) 63: ‘Shut up, you silly buggar,’ snapped Bruiser, who then turned to me and added, ‘Flicker’s mad as a snake.’.
1946		D. Stivens Courtship of Uncle Henry 75: Anyone could see he was mad as a cut snake about everything and wanting to put the boot in.
1947		D. Davin For the Rest of Our Lives 377: He was a good bloke but mad as a snake when he got his blood up.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 105: I got as mad as a cut snake then.
1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 232: What do you want to dwell on Terry for? She was always as mad as a snake.
1963		‘Nino Culotta’ Gone Fishin’ 179: Great little bloke to go fishin’ with. Mad as a cut snake. Liar, too.
1968		(con. 1940s) G. Dutton Andy 137: Rooster’s mad as a snake.
1981		P. Barton Bastards I Have Known 114: Wally was as mad as a cut snake.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 35: Mad as a cut snake: Both crazy and angry.
1990		T. Winton Human Torpedo 54: Yer mad as a cut snake.
1999		Indep. Rev. 23 July 13: The director was ‘mad as a cut snake’.
2004		L. Redhead Peepshow [ebook] When I found out about him and Mel I was ropeable, mate, mad as a cut snake.
2007		S. Maloney Sucked In 169: He’s all hopped up [...] Mad as a cut snake.
2018		R. O’Neill ‘Ocker’ in The Drover’s Wives (2019) 181: He [i.e. a mad bull] was mad as a cut snake; she had to give himn six bullets before he carked it.

(Aus.) insane, eccentric.

1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 87: A few more similes snatched from our environment: [...] mad as a gum-tree full of galahs.
1974		W.F. Wannan Bill Wannan Bk Aus. Yarns 239: He’s as mad as a gum tree full of galahs.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 127: There are [...] subtle gradations in the types of stupidity, thoughtlessness, hopelessness, incapacity and sheer ineptitude that may come in for verbal censure. A person may be: [...] mad as a gum-tree full of galahs.
2008		B. Moore Speaking Our Lang. 12: A flock of these gregarious birds perched in trees and sounding off raucous calls generated the phrase as mad as a gumtree full of galahs.
2014		L. Piper Counting Wild Strawberries 302: ‘You’re as mad as a gum tree full of galahs!’ laughed Duncan. ‘C’mon guys, if a wussey pom can do this, so can we!’.

very mad, utterly insane; in a rage.

1827		Belfast Commercial Chron. 18 June 2/5: The fees [...] amount, it appears, to about 1,500l, which his Lordship must pay, and consequently, as the vulgar say, ‘he is as mad as a hatter’.
1829		Mirror of Lit. 14 8/2: Tickler (aside to Shepherd) He’s raving [...] Odoherty (to both) Mad as a hatter.
1836		T. Haliburton Clockmaker I 54: He [...] never said another word, lookin as mad as a hatter the whole blessed time.
1840		T. Haliburton Clockmaker III 51: He knew I would tell the story all round the town, and he was as mad as a hatter.
1855		T. Haliburton Nature and Human Nature II 40: I was as mad as a hatter.
1867		R. Whiteing Mr Sprouts, His Opinions 40: All the busseys twigged us, too, and begun throwin’ their jeers out, till I felt as mad as a hatter.
1879		G.R. Sims Dagonet Ballads 102: She’s as mad as a hatter, sir, now.
1906		Marvel 22 Dec. 636: He’s fair off his chump – mad as a bloomin’ hatter!
1916		J. Buchan Greenmantle (1930) 222: He was getting struck now in real earnest, and he didn’t like it. He had lost his bearings and was growing as mad as a hatter.
1924		F.P. Adams So Much Velvet 86: Mad as a Matteawan hatter.
1936		D. Stivens Tramp and Other Stories 24: Mad as hatters most of them.
1950		C. Harris Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 42: ’E finished up in Colney ’Atch mad as a ’atter three months later.
1972		T. O’Brien If I Die in a Combat Zone (1980) 31: ‘You crazy?’ ‘Mad as a hatter.’.
1984		Benjamin & Pearl Limericks Down Under 35: A firebug in old Parramatta, / Was really as mad as a hatter.
1991		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 138: I loved little Joe the Boss. He was mad as a hatter, but he was loyal to me.

very mad or angry.

1812		J.K. Paulding John Bull & Bro. Jonathan (1835) 114: This made John as mad as a hornet, for he was as proud as Lucifer, and always called himself lord of the millpond.
1843		W.T. Thompson Major Jones’s Courtship (1872) 211: Uncle Josh was as mad as a hornit, and come monstrous nigh givin Pete a lickin.
1866		G.W. Harris ‘Sut Lovingood’s Big Dinner Story’ Nashville Union and American XXXIII Aug. in Inge (1967) 169: Mad, by golly, mad as a hornet.
1882		Millheim Jrnl (PA) 24 Aug. 1/4: She tied her old bonnet on her head and stepped out [...] asmad as a hornet.
1893		Dly Commercial Herald (Vicksburg, MS) 1 Mar. 2/4: Mad as Hornets [...] The Republican senators are in a very angry mood.
1901		T. Hammond On Board a Whaler 341: He caught on and was mad as a hornet.
1911		G. Stratton-Porter Harvester 23: I was mad as hornets at first, but since I’ve slept on the idea, I rather like it.
1918		J.M. Grider War Birds (1926) 89: Spriggs was mad as a hornet.
1926		in J.F. Dobie Rainbow in Morning 89: As mad as a hornet; as mad as hops.
1926		Townsville Daily Bulletin 6 Nov. 11/2: The men who had been swindled out of a good deal of their money were as mad as a mob sunburned hornets.
1931		Z. Grey Sunset Pass 272: Mad as hornets.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 32: Joe was as mad as a hornet at first when I let slip about Pearl and me.
1977		J. Langone Life at the Bottom 58: There’s that seal [...] leaping out of the water mad as a hornet, and the seal is shaking its fist, yelling, you fuckin’ USARPS.
1993		(con. 1945) S. McAughtry Touch and Go 170: Bucksie, jumping mad as a hornet.
2012		J. Hart Reunited for Holidays 60: ‘A few moments ago, I was sure you were mad as a hornet at me for hanging out at your ranch.’ ‘Not as mad as a hornet,’ she corrected. ‘Irked’.

(N.Z.) very crazy.

1943		J.A.W. Bennett ‘Eng. as it is Spoken in N.Z.’ in AS XVIII:2 Apr. 90: Phrases like ‘mad as a maggot’, ‘mad as a meat axe’ are obviously linked with these expressions [i.e. to go maggoty].
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 43: Mad as a maggot. Ya shoulda married her.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 71/1: mad as a maggot very mad, very silly, very angry, very eccentric.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

1. very crazy.

[1515–16		Skelton Magnyfycence line 930: As mery as a Marche hare] .
1604		Dekker Honest Whore Pt 1 I viii: A plague on ’em, ther’s no ho with ’em, they’re madder than March hares.
1709		N. Ward Compleat and Humorous Account of Remarkable Clubs (1756) 48: They beheld the Bear playing fifty Monkey tricks, as if he was as mad as a March Hare.
1754		Foote Knights in Works (1799) I 68: Mother’s as mad as a March hare about it.
1844		‘Jonathan Slick’ High Life in N.Y. I 259: Miss Josephine Burgess that was, sot on a stool, looking as mad as a march hare.
1866		H.L. Williams N.-Y. After Dark 28: ‘Mad’s a hare!’ gasped another.
1877		J. Greenwood Dick Temple I 41: ‘She was as mad as a March hare.’.
1900		Marvel 12 Nov. 3: The silly fool, he’s as mad as a March hare!
1907		J.W. Carr ‘Word-List from Hampstead, N.H.’ in DN III iii 193: mad as a March hare, adj phr. Crazy.

2. lustful.

1725

N. Ward Amorous Bugbears 27: I shall be as mad as a Jack Hare in March, or a Buck in Rutting-time.

see under meat axe n.

very crazy.

1609

Everie Woman in her Humor B3: If he were as madde as a weauer [OED].

extremely angry.

1823		J. Doddridge Backwoodsman and Dandy 42: Every body that was not ax’d was mad as a wet hen.
1872		New Northwest (Portland, OR) 19 May 2/6: How d’ye spose I feel then? Why, madder than a wet hen.
1881		New Ulm Wkly (MN) 23 Feb. 3/2: The owner of the hay was madder than a wet hen.
1887		Mat. Tribune (DC) 30 June 1/6: The Union Army [...] muddy, hungry, discouraged and madder than ‘wet hens’ — mad to think they had been defeated.
1887		G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 67: He got mad as a wet hen, and told me he had just as much money as I had.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 26 Aug. 1/4: She was maddern’ a wet hen an’ warnted His Hegggsellency to heggsersise his Himperial powers.
1898		Herald (LA) 21 July 8/3: The Spanish Dons are madder than wet hens.
1902		W.N. Harben Abner Daniel 198: That made me madder ’n a wet hen.
1907		N.Z. Truth 26 Jan. 6/7: This sort of catechism from common rude people always make the dapper little linen draper as wild as a wet hen.
1909		Tacoma Times (WA) 4 Nov. 5/1: He got madder than a wet hen when Stewart intimated [etc.].
1910		B.L. Bowen ‘Word-List From Western New York’ in DN III:vi 445: mad as a wet hen, adj. phr. Very angry.
1912		R.W. Brown ‘Word-List From Western Indiana’ in DN III:viii 582: madder than a wet hen, adj. Angry beyond self control.
1917		Cook & Glaspell Supressed Desires in Mayorga (1919) 312: Hen — hen — wet hen — dry — hen — mad hen! (Jumps up in a rage).
1917		Day Book (Chicago) 19 Feb. 17/1: By this time the man was gone madder than a wet hen.
1920		Tulsa Star (OK) 19 June 2/1: This result made the Colored men madder than a score of wet hens.
1928		R. Fisher Walls Of Jericho 163: It makes him mad as a wet hen to run out’n anything.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 210: If you think I like it, you jolly well mistake yourself. I am so mad as a wet hen.
1947–53		W. Guthrie Seeds of Man (1995) 363: All of ’em’s madder’n a wet hen.
1958		E. Dundy Dud Avocado (1960) 125: I returned to the table black and blue, two buttons ripped off my blouse and mad as a wet hen.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 191: wet hen (an angry one, usually in the phrase, as mad as a wet hen).
1995		D. Mullins Road Back Home 118: I gave him that name just to make him mad. He gets about as mad as a wet hen in a yellow jacket’s nest when I call him that.
2008		C. Tiernan On the Back of the Other Side 251: Naked, wet, slippery and mad as a wet hen to boot.
2014		M. McBride Swollen Red Sun 99: Jerry Dean come by [...] and he’s madder ’n a wet cat.

extremely annoyed.

1990		D.M. Thomas Lying Together 208: If I was in your shoes, darling, I’d be mad as fuck.
1998		Melody Maker 23 May 🌐 Super Furry Animals are all of the following: crazy, drunk, Welsh, mad as fuck, a genius pop group [etc.].
2004		Canibus ‘Rip the Jacker’ 🎵 Your [sic] probably mad as fuck, wondering where I got the information from.
2012		A. Wilson Against the Grain 18: ‘I’m just mad as fuck.’ ‘Well calm the fuck down before you wake up the neighborhood’.