balled-up, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

balled-up adj.

[balls v. (1); note Gore, Student Slang (1896): ‘To come to a standstill after making spasmodic and somewhat erratic efforts — as a horse does when snow gathers in balls upon its hoofs’; note SE ball up, to make into a ball]

(US) confused, mixed up, in a mess.

1888		W.D. Howells April Hopes 323: You seem balled up about something.
1896		Ade Artie (1963) 57: She had him balled up till he could n’t say a word.
1905		G.W. Peck Peck’s Bad Boy Abroad 118: Dad said: ‘Look here, Mr. King, someone has got you all balled up about the war.’.
1912		Ade Knocking the Neighbors 117: If Rufus got balled up in his Answers, his immediate Kin would pat him on the Back and tell him he was right and the TextBook was wrong.
1919		H.C. Witwer Smile A Minute 115: Well, Joe, the sergeant gets balled up, and the officer cuts in on him.
1922		S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 97: No wonder they get [...] so balled-up in their thinking!
1930		‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 207: Haywire – When everything is balled up.
1936		D. Stivens Tramp and Other Stories 149: I’ve got to tell the story of how this boy got two years in clink in my own way—otherwise I’ll get all balled up.
1938		J. Weidman I Can Get It For You Wholesale 50: Watch your script there, Tootsie. You’re getting your cues all balled up.
1943		R. Chandler Lady in the Lake (1952) 130: Cripes, that means everything will be all balled up.
1954		K. Vonnegut ‘Bagombo Snuff Box’ in Bagombo Snuff Box (1999) 144: Now I’ve got Ceylon all balled up with Madagascar.
1955		T. Williams Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Act II: You’re all balled up, you.
1964		J. Mitchell Joe Gould’s Secret (1996) 90: The old cook got it all balled up.
1976		J.W. Dean III Blind Ambition 336: ‘Jimmy, I guess maybe you’ve lost track of my man now that you’re all balled up trying to get those tapes’ .