Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also barmey) insane, eccentric; thus barminess, insanity, eccentricity; go barmy, to go mad, barmy on, obsessed with.

1606		Return from Parnassus Pt II I ii: Such barmy heads wil alwaies be working, when as sad vinegar witts sit souring at the bottome of a barrell.
[1630		Tinker of Turvey Epistle: Ale? The Autenticall drinke of England, the whole Barmy-Tribe of Ale-Cunners neuer layd their lips to the like].
1786		Burns ‘To J.S.’ in Poetical Works (1871) 35: Just now I’ve ta’en the fit o’ rhyme, / My barmie noddle’s working prime.
1825		Bell’s Life in London 11 Sept. 8/1: A baker (the same barmy chaps [...] in all climates).
1869		‘Six Years in the Prisons of England’ Temple Bar Mag. Mar. 533: The thieves themselves mocked and ridiculed them, and called the small-minded military man set over them a ‘Barmey’ humbug.
1882		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 3 Nov. 7/5: I’m Joe, Barmy Joe.
1888		S.O. Addy Sheffield Gloss. 11: Barmy, silly.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 6: Barmy Bloke, a lunatic.
1897		W.S. Maugham Liza of Lambeth (1966) 62: Oh, she’s barmy.
1906		Marvel 6 Jan. 694: He’s barmy!
1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 16 Sept. 4/7: Wun nite the ole woman goes [to the theatre] [...] that sets ’er fair barmy.
1911		Manchester Courier 1 Feb. 6/7: To be ‘barmy (on the crumpet)’ or ‘a bit off the top’ are the most generally known phrases [for eccentricity]; ‘not to have all one’s chairs at home’ is [...] often heard in Lancashire.
1914		W.L. George Making of an Englishman I 95: One might think you were barmy on the crumpet the way you go on.
1915		Truth (Brisbane) 10 Jan. 9/1: [headline] Barmy Bill of Berlin [...] A Nation’s Distrust of [Kaiser] William’s Sanity.
1919		Sun. Times (Perth) 14 Sept. 25/4: All the barmaids are barmy on him.
1927		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 20 Aug. 11/1: Slanguage [...] Parse and analyse the following: ‘I sez ter ’im, sez I, ‘Yer barmy. Yer doan’ know nothin’ abart the flamin’ thing’.
1933		S. O’Casey Within the Gates iv: You’re barmy, man!
1937		C. Drew ‘Order of the Mallet’ in Bulletin 28 Apr. 4/1: ‘Is this bloke barmy?’ he asks.
1937		[perf. Ella Shields] I’m Not All There 🎵 I’ve been barmy since my birth I'm willing to confess.
1946		D. Stivens Courtship of Uncle Henry 91: ‘He’s barmy!’ Logan said. ‘Mad as a snake!’.
1950		A. Buckeridge Jennings Goes To School 53: It’s these lads, sir: acting a bit queer. They’re either ill or barmy.
1958		A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 13: He knocked his leg on the bicycle pedal, swearing at the pain, complaining at Jack’s barminess for leaving it in such an exposed position.
1962		K. Waterhouse There is a Happy Land (1964) 13: You’re blooming barmy, man!
1968		Green Bay Press-Gaz. (WI) 9 Jan. A2/4: If your smasher of a bird catches you all mops and brooms she may think you are all barmy on the carpet [sic] [...] It’s English. Not the king’s brand, but a cross-ectiosn of the mod mood in London .
1973		B.S. Johnson All Bull 235: The whole Army, that is to say, was a Shower: and quite barmy.
1978		A. Burgess 1985 (1980) 150: You’re barmy [...] We don’t start fires, we put ’em out.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 291: The woman had flipped; she was barmy, certifiable.
1992		D. Jarman diary 14 June Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 147: Nicky is wearing a barmy hat.
2000		Observer Mag. 25 Jan. 78: I thought it was a bit crazy. ‘Barmy’ was the word I used.
2011		D.D. Brazill ‘Lady and the Gimp’ in Pulp Ink [ebook] Abbott’s frankly barmy sermons were as famous as his acid flashbacks.
2017		Spitalfields Life 24 Apr. 🌐 ‘Barmy Park’ in Bethnal Green (named after the asylum that once stood there).

2. confused.

1922

W. McG. Eager Contemp. Rev. n.p.: Vey dropped ’im one, wen’ for ’is chain an’ lockets, ’alf-inched ’is splosh and lef’ ’im barmy.