Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) eccentric, insane, foolish, pertaining to psychiatry.

1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 107/2: ’T [i.e. a ration] mun go a sumweeirs, an’ thau won’t think he’s luny enuff tu let it goa farder’n is own ‘kick’.
1865		H.L. Williams Joaquin 131: You’re loony to think of fighting ’em.
1868		H.L. Williams Black-Eyed Beauty 50: She was such a looney piece!
1876		B. Harte Gabriel Conroy III 114: He’s looney, Olly.
1881		Newcastle Courant 25 Nov. 6/5: Have yer gone loony?
1894		‘Price Warung’ Tales of the Early Days 217: An’ yer dad won’t be too looney to flog — nobody’s too looney to flog.
1897		E.W. Townsend Chimmie Fadden 33: I guess I’m getting a little loony meself.
1899		J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 300: I never knew before that they sent luny people to poorhouses.
1907		Leigh & Powell [perf. Marie Lloyd] Tiddley-om-pom 🎵 But the Spaniard when he’s ‘spoony’ / He goes absolutely ‘Looney’.
1908		A.N. Lyons Arthur’s 203: Took looney, or what is it?
1908		Sun. Times (Perth) 21 June 1/1: The loony religionist who perpetrates the blasphemy should be incarcerated.
1909		W.M. Raine Brand Blotters (1912) 192: She’s plumb loony – dangerous, too.
1910		F.P. Dunne Mr Dooley Says 149: Anything th’ rich do that ye want to do an’ don’t do is looney.
1917		Boy’s Own Paper XL:2 61: He was loony.
1927		W. Edge Main Stem 112: Little Slim was always considered somewhat looney.
1929		‘Henry Green’ Living (1978) 3676: To ’ave the coppers come in an’ take you for disorderly be’aviour, and when you ain’t even tight, it’s loony, Joe.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 93: This was just the sort of loony thing I should have expected her to think.
1936		(con. 1830s–60s) ‘Miles Franklin’ All That Swagger 115: A few of the luniest scrubbers went into the big yard. They charged with a mad bellow.
1939		K. Tennant Foveaux 57: Gawd knows you ain’t no catch without your looney ideas, but with ’em you’re as much fun as a wet Sunday.
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 16: ‘She’s bats.’ The Stray tapped her forehead. ‘Looney, like farver was.’ She added hopefully: ‘Maybe she’s escaped from a ’sylum.’.
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 79: He tried heavens hard [...] to get hold of something to talk about, but everything as come sounded so luny.
1948		(con. 1944) N. Mailer Naked and Dead 363: What the hell are we in the loony ward for?
1957		G. Metalious Peyton Place (1959) 74: She’s loony [...] Loony as hell!
1958		A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 29: That’s what all these looney laws are for, yer know: to be broken by blokes like me.
1963		B. Hecht Gaily, Gaily 48: When they go looney like that, you can’t argue any fine points with them.
1963		J. Rechy City of Night 27: That Pershing Square! — it’s a loony asylum.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 21: ‘You got any bread?’ he asked Harvey, with the same loony smile.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 15: He’s in one of them left-wing loony groups. Sort of a political version of glue-sniffing.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 113: A home video of her loony life fastforwarded between her ears. [Ibid.] 336: That loony Hospital attempt was the first signal [i.e. of trouble].
1991		B. Hamper Rivethead (1992) 213: Dr. Kilaru was [...] very pleasant and extremely dapper. Obviously, this loony business lent itself to the big buck.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 305: But the loony witch had a point.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 32: I’m joinin him in this loony but as i say not exactly original plan.
2010		Sun. Times Mag. 19 Dec. 62/1: His ludicrously inflated income is [...] a by-product of football’s loony economics.
2013		T. Robinson Hard Bounce [ebook] ‘Probably try to bite it [i.e an arm] off [...] Loony broad’.
2015		L. Berney Long & Faraway Gone [ebook] Donald was his loony friend.

2. (US campus) intoxicated.

1980

Eble Campus Sl. Spring 4: looney – drunk, or high on drugs: Last night at the house we all got looney.