crazy adj.
1. keen on, enthusiastic.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Upper Ten Thousand 84: The women are half crazy to be at Oldport already. | |
| Mary’s Birthday II i: Come, I am crazy to start for Europe. | |
| Forty Years a Gambler 246: I saw Johnnie Bull was crazy to bet. | |
| Artie (1963) 78: I’ve been toutin’ you to Mame till she’s dead crazy to see you. | |
| Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 64: I’m holdin’ out fur bigger money, an’ I may go with Dockstader. He’s crazy to sign me. |
2. (US black/beatnik) a general intensifier, wonderful, amazing, weird, bizarre, according to context.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Death Squads in Morocco 208: They were there [i.e. in Spain] for the fun of the fight and nothing more. What did it matter to them who was right or who wrong in this crazy revolt? | |
| Sat. Rev. Lit. (US) 25 Dec. 48: It is, in the words of bop hepsters, real crazy. | |
| Mad mag. Oct.–Nov. 13: Dig that crazy ronson! | |
| ‘Bop Dict.’ in Mad mag. Mar. 20: Crazy – odd ... A Mad reader is a crazy mixed-up kid. | |
| Corner Boy 36: Dig this crazy jam. | |
| Gidget Goes Hawaiian 15: He’s just about the craziest in folk songs [...] He’s real big time. | |
| Deep Down In The Jungle 265: Crazy – Good, or highest good in jazz talk. | |
| Howard Street 135: ‘I’s that other thing,’ the girl said. ‘Crazy,’ said one. ‘Boss-eyes,’ said another. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | in Living Black 29: We went for a trip to Alice Springs some time ago. Saw some crazy things. | |
| Campus Sl. Dec. | |
| Conversation with the Mann 89: In that scene, in that craaazy scene, Fran and I could pal around stare-free. |
3. (US black) a lot, great in quantity, usu. of money.
| (con. 1982–6) Cocaine Kids (1990) 32: I was making crazy dollars for this guy and my connect was pissed off – he started offering me crazy prices to think about taking his package again. | |
| White Boy Shuffle 122: Why ain’t you dancing, homes? Crazy honeys is checking you out. | |
| Powder 80: Here was an ideal way of holding a high-profile launch for the band and the label without spending crazy money. | |
 | Dope Sick 25: [S]ometimes he came up with some crazy money. |
4. (US black) outstanding.
| ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] She wanted him to know the pussy was his when he wanted it. He already knew that because his dick game was crazy. |
In compounds
(US prison) inmates who wish to or are planning to escape.
| Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL) 7 Apr. 4/1: Prison Slang [...] Crazy fence boys: Inmates thinking of escape. | |
| [journal] Gloss. of Texas Prison Sl. 8 Feb.: Crazy Fence Boys –- [those who are] Planning or thinking about escaping. |
In phrases
extremely enthusiastic, obsessed by.
| Diary and Letters (1904) I 215: Mr. Murphy is crazy for your play. | |
| Abner Daniel 255: He says he’s crazy for a cup of coffee with whipped cream in it. | |
| ‘Oh You Candy Kid’ 🎵 I’m so crazy about you I’m nearly off my lid. | |
| ‘The Water Cure’ in Gullible’s Travels 166: I never craved addin’ a married couple to my family – not even if they was crazy about rummy and paid all their bills. | |
| Fighting Fleets 377: You say the report mentions their wanting soap? They were crazy for it. | |
| ‘Bernice Bobs Her Hair’ in Bodley Head Scott Fitzgerald V (1963) 86: Warren [...] had long been ‘crazy about her.’. | |
| (con. 1900s) Elmer Gantry 16: Course all the fellows are crazy about you. | |
| (con. 1920s) Big Money in USA (1966) 894: He had drunk a lot of cocktails and champagne. He was crazy for her. | |
| Night and the City 180: She’s worked hard for you [...] she’s crazy about you. She would even die for you. | |
| Really the Blues 155: Val [...] was crazy about Johnny Dodds. | |
| Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 132: He’s an out-of-work heavy, and crazy for horses. | |
| Always Leave ’Em Dying 100: I’m not crazy about going out, myself. | |
| letter 8 Dec. in Proud Highway (1997) 298: Boars with 9-inch fangs, all of them [...] crazy for the kill. | |
| Mama Black Widow 185: She’s crazy about my face. | |
| Nova Apr. 81: I would like a man to be crazy about something, really involved with something. | |
| A Fatal Inversion 107: Your coypu is crazy for sugar beet. | |
| Fixx 193: Sarah’s crazy about me. | |
| Guardian Editor 10 Sept. 10: I love romance. I’m a sucker for it [...] I’m crazy for it. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
see separate entries.
a foolish young woman.
| Londinismen (2nd edn). |
(drugs) phencyclidine.
| et al. Angel Dust 124: The large number of street names it has been accorded over the years: crazy coke [...] We’d hit it or buff it out maybe three to one ration – three parts anoscitol corn sugar to one part PCP – and then market it as crazy coke. | |
| ONDCP Street Terms 7: Crazy coke — PCP. |
(US) a mad person.
| Under the Gaslight I i: Nonsense, crazy head, who would dare? | |
| Animal Secrets Told 25: When I looked around to the other chap I understood why the buck had jumped. The crazyhead had lighted a cigar. | |
| Living (1978) 315: He kissed her while she laughed at him. ‘Crazyhead’ he kept on saying to her. | |
| Rabbit Boss 497: Com’ on in Cap'n Rex, you ol crazyhead you, you ol trout from Tahoe! | |
| Until Death Do Us Part 64: It’s so damned obviously malice, or some crazyhead at play. | |
| Crispy & James 415: Out of me way, crazyhead. | |
| To Climb the Mountain 30: My tony, heeza crazy nut. tell him I said to coma right down or illa come up and kill the crazyhead. |
an independent black man, who refuses to accept an inferior social role.
| (con. mid-1960s) Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 55: A crazy nigger was someone who had an explosive temper, someone who took no flak from no one [...] He would shoot, stab, bite, or do whatever he could to hurt somebody who disrespected him. It was a big thing then to be considered a crazy nigger. |
amphetamine.
| Hiparama of the Classics 21: Nero is havin’ a ball, he’s diggin’ this mad game, he’s juicin’ up a storm, chompin’ on his crazy pills. | |
| Rowing News Oct. 14/1: Whether we are athletes training together at the camp (drinking the kool-aid), or at a club in, say, Boston (taking crazy pills) we must be careful (as my pharmacist/sister would say) not to overdose. |
(US black) a desirable style of hat.
| Deep Down In The Jungle 137: The baboon stood with a crazy rim, / Charcoal grey vine, and a stingy brim. |
ribs.
| Real Life in London I 337: One old buck got his jaw-bone broken; another staved in two of his crazy timbers, that is to say, broke a couple of ribs. |
(Can./US) whisky.
| Too Many Boats (1935) 7: Main cain’t drink that crazy-water an’ do his drill. | |
| Chrons of Okla. XIV Sept. 331: The Comanche word for it [whisky] was Bosah-pah, meaning crazy water [HDAS]. | |
| ‘John Wayne – The Continuing Saga’ at creeknoise.com 🌐 The beans and the beef steak and the mess of eggs which Duke was about to eat, all to be washed down with whiskey. None of that crazy water which the injuns hankered after, but real back east whiskey. |
In phrases
see under shithouse rat n.
see under silly as… adj.