apeshit, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

apeshit adj.

1. (orig. US black) berserk, mad, crazy, extremely upset.

1955, 1958		implied in go apeshit.
1966		W. Wilson LBJ Brigade (1967) 66: The flyboys’re apeshit. I know how their minds work.
1971		B. Malamud Tenants (1972) 123: But now I’m gon call you a fartn shiteater faggot whore kike apeshit thievin Jew.
1989		(con. 1956) P. Theroux My Secret Hist. (1990) 66: He’s apeshit.
2000		P. Roth Human Stain 65: Ape-shit guys who recognize the horror, but know it is the very best moment of their lives.
2006		P. Carey Theft 201: Butcher [...] would have got completely ape shit.
2012		D. O’Donnell Locked Ward (2013) 318: He had gone apeshit [...] lost the plot and started to throw the furniture around.

2. sexually obsessed; usu. as apeshit for/over.

1973

C. Gaines Stay Hungry 243: I’m apeshit over her.

3. (US campus) drunk.

1980

Eble Campus Sl. Fall 1: ape-shit – drunk or acting as if drunk.

In phrases

go apeshit (v.) (also go ape crap)

(orig. US) to lose control, esp. of one’s temper.

1955		L.F. Engler ‘Gloss. Air Force Sl.’ in AS XXX:2 117: GO APE SHIT, v. phr. React in an irrational manner; go into a frenzy.
1958		C. Lee diary 5 Nov. in Eight Bells & Top Masts (2001) 173: Sparks has gone ape-shit.
1971		Frank Zappa ‘Do You Like My New Car?’ 🎵 [...] your harelipped dyke-o bass-playing girlfriend on the backseat had to have it with a Yoo-hoo bottle or she went apeshit.
1976		P. Conroy Great Santini (1977) 399: Hey, Lillian [...] your daughter’s going ape crap out here.
1984		A. Sayle Train to Hell 139: Then they went completely ape-shit.
1989		S. Armitage ‘Eighties, Nineties’ in Zoom 61: Back at head office they were all going apeshit.
1992		I. Rankin Wolfman 95: Cath Farraday’s going apeshit trying to calm those bastards down.
1995		M. Dibdin Dark Spectre (1996) 39: Down at Precinct One, they went apeshit. A quadruple slaying meant pictures in the paper, prime-time TV.
2003		N. Green Angel of Montague Street (2004) 42: Little Dom goes ape shit.
2007		Kanye West ‘Stronger’ 🎵 Go ahead, go nuts, go apeshit.
2012		J. Díaz This Is How You Lose Her 16: You know how it is when [...] your girl’s an octaroon. Brothers go apeshit.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] Brady goes apeshit, screaming at Phil.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 37: He figured Donnie had a thing for her and that was at the root of his going apeshit.
2021		P Howard Braywatch 98: ‘She went absolutely apeshit’.
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 33: ‘No wonder he’s going ape shit now. He knows he’s gonna die inside’.