Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also gugga) eccentric, senile .

1910		W.S. Blunt diary 14 Oct. in My Diaries (1921) II 322: At Constantinople he [i.e. Winston Churchill] had stayed four days, and had been taken to see the new Sultan, but had found him uninteresting; indeed gaga.
1917		Birmingham Gaz. 15 Aug. n.p.: If you hear someone describe himself or someone else as looking ‘gaga’ you may know that it is a bit of French slang recently imported. It is curiously expressive of general knock-kneedness and has no suitable equivalent over here. All the nuts have taken to it, and it is to be quite the word this autumn, with ‘priceless’ shelved.
1920		E. Pound letter 2 June in Read Letters to James Joyce (1968) 173: One grows increasingly gaga with time’s attrition.
1920		‘Sapper’ Bulldog Drummond 165: He’s gone off the boil. Become quite gugga again.
1925		M. Arlen May Fair (1947) 141: For pity’s sake, Martin, don’t look so gaga – but go!
1937		A. Christie Murder in the Mews (1954) 25: Gone a bit gaga as they say.
1941		P.C. Wren Uniform of Glory 44: Could it be that Pere Pinard was losing his grip [...] going ga-ga?
1949		H. Miller Sexus (1969) 363: He was a multimillionaire – and a little gaga.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 149: The Omar Khayyam, highly publicized, is strictly for ga-ga tourists.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 186 It simply means that I will be gaga longer.
1968		Minneapolis Star (MN) 12 Sept. 69/4: Band freaks (girls who went gaga over musicians).
1976		V. King Weeping and Laughter 238: She became a bit ‘confused’ and after that her terminal journey [...] had begun. (For ‘confused’ read ‘stark staring mad’ or ‘gaga’ [...]).
1979		C. Dexter Service of all the Dead (1980) 74: Perhaps, thought Morse, she’s not so ga-ga after all?
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 364: Maybe he was already gaga.
1994		Eve. Herald (Dublin) 11 June 9/2: Since Mr Morrison went gaga with the green cards, they’ve all got big jobs and studios in Manhattan.
1995		D. Lodge Therapy (1996) 74: Sometimes you get a party from an old people’s home who are too gaga to follow the plot.
2002		D. Athill Yesterday Morning 16: It has become obvious that what an old person is – provided he or she has not gone gaga – is [etc.].
2009		T. Black Gutted 138: I’d managed to skip the whole bloated, pot-bellied, middle-age-spread deal and go straight to gaga decrepitude.
2009		P. Temple Truth 172: He had the CFA on him to move them yesterday, won’t listen. Man’s gaga.
2015		G. Disher Heat [ebook] ‘And your aunt?’ ‘Went gaga. She’s in a psych ward’.

2. also ext. as gaga over, sentimental (about), infatuated (with).

1934		B. Appel Brain Guy (1937) 201: They were gaga over McMann.
1948		Life 11 Oct. 139: Boppers go gaga over such bebop classics as OO Bop Sha Bam, Oop Pop A Da and Emanon.
1959		E. De Roo Go, Man, Go! 55: You miss me as much as I missed you? [...] Or you gone gaga over somebody new?
1969		Kerouac letter 16 Jan. in Charters II (1999) 460: He would go gaga over my Blake Jerusalem because it’s also inscribed to James Agee.
1985		J. Wambaugh Secrets of Harry Bright (1986) 48: I already know about the power of pussy so I didn’t have to see Desmond go ga-ga over Heidi.
1997		L. Davies Candy 54: Once he saw her he went a bit ga-ga and keen.
2000		D. Cavitch Amer. Pie 153: ‘You’re completely gaga over her,’ he said at me.
2007		L. Redhead Cherry Pie [ebook] First day of warmth and sunshine and Melbourne goes gaga.
2010		IOL News (Western Cape) 24 Dec. 🌐 With the rest of the world gaga over the Ashes.

3. sexually aroused.

1935

R.L. Bellem ‘Death’s Bright Halo’ in Spicy Detective Oct. 🌐 I caught a glimpse of gorgeous, chiffon-sheathed legs that had me ga-ga.

4. drunk.

1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 111: Ga-ga babes come to listen to name bands. They are a pushover for a shiny convertible.
1963		F. Kohner Affairs of Gidget 111: They both grinned gaga-eyed at each other.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 198: Gin-pickled and gaga as he was.
1997		(con. 1937) D. Farson Never a Normal Man 186: Pops drunk a lot of beer [...] He got thoroughly Ga-Ga.

5. confused, disorientated.

1937		J. Archibald ‘Crash on Delivery’ in Flying Aces Nov. 🌐 You must still be gaga. Where would I git a cow?
2005		J. Stahl I, Fatty 29: A little kid willing to look gaga in public for a ten spot.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 264: Nicksy looks gaga, staring off intae space.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 73: She gets the kid all gaga.