Green’s Dictionary of Slang

crazy adj.

1. keen on, enthusiastic.

[US]C.A. Bristed Upper Ten Thousand 84: The women are half crazy to be at Oldport already.
[US]G.H. Miles Mary’s Birthday II i: Come, I am crazy to start for Europe.
[US]G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 246: I saw Johnnie Bull was crazy to bet.
[US]Ade Artie (1963) 78: I’ve been toutin’ you to Mame till she’s dead crazy to see you.
[US]H. Green 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]T. Brennan 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?
[UK]Sat. Rev. Lit. (US) 25 Dec. 48: It is, in the words of bop hepsters, real crazy.
[US]Mad mag. Oct.–Nov. 13: Dig that crazy ronson!
[US] ‘Bop Dict.’ in Mad mag. Mar. 20: Crazy – odd ... A Mad reader is a crazy mixed-up kid.
[US]H. Simmons Corner Boy 36: Dig this crazy jam.
[US]F. Kohner Gidget Goes Hawaiian 15: He’s just about the craziest in folk songs [...] He’s real big time.
[US]R. Abrahams Deep Down In The Jungle 265: Crazy – Good, or highest good in jazz talk.
[US]N. Heard Howard Street 135: ‘I’s that other thing,’ the girl said. ‘Crazy,’ said one. ‘Boss-eyes,’ said another.
[Aus] in K. Gilbert Living Black 29: We went for a trip to Alice Springs some time ago. Saw some crazy things.
[US]Eble Campus Sl. Dec.
[US]J. Ridley Conversation with the Mann 89: In that scene, in that craaazy scene, Fran and I could pal around stare-free.
[US]M. Lacher On the Bro’d 7: Maryann was a nine-out-of-ten with [...] a crazy rack.

3. (US black) a lot, great in quantity, usu. of money.

[US](con. 1982–6) T. Williams 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.
[US]P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 122: Why ain’t you dancing, homes? Crazy honeys is checking you out.
[UK]K. Sampson Powder 80: Here was an ideal way of holding a high-profile launch for the band and the label without spending crazy money.
W.D. Myers Dope Sick 25: [S]ometimes he came up with some crazy money.
[US]G. Flynn Gone Girl 17: She was one of the original dot-com phenoms—made crazy money for two years, then took the Internet bubble bath in 2000.

4. (US black) outstanding.

[US]‘Dutch’ ? (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

crazy fence boys (n.)

(US prison) inmates who wish to or are planning to escape.

[US]Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL) 7 Apr. 4/1: Prison Slang [...] Crazy fence boys: Inmates thinking of escape.
[US]Texas Lawyer [journal] Gloss. of Texas Prison Sl. 8 Feb.: Crazy Fence Boys –- [those who are] Planning or thinking about escaping.

In phrases

crazy for (adj.) (also crazy about)

extremely enthusiastic, obsessed by.

[UK]Mme D’Arblay Diary and Letters (1904) I 215: Mr. Murphy is crazy for your play.
[US]W.N. Harben Abner Daniel 255: He says he’s crazy for a cup of coffee with whipped cream in it.
[US]John Guilpin & Bob Adams ‘Oh You Candy Kid’ 🎵 I’m so crazy about you I’m nearly off my lid.
[US]R. Lardner ‘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.
[UK]R.D. Paine Fighting Fleets 377: You say the report mentions their wanting soap? They were crazy for it.
[US]F.S. Fitzgerald ‘Bernice Bobs Her Hair’ in Bodley Head Scott Fitzgerald V (1963) 86: Warren [...] had long been ‘crazy about her.’.
[US](con. 1900s) S. Lewis Elmer Gantry 16: Course all the fellows are crazy about you.
[US](con. 1920s) Dos Passos Big Money in USA (1966) 894: He had drunk a lot of cocktails and champagne. He was crazy for her.
[UK]G. Kersh Night and the City 180: She’s worked hard for you [...] she’s crazy about you. She would even die for you.
[US]Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 155: Val [...] was crazy about Johnny Dodds.
[US]W.R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 132: He’s an out-of-work heavy, and crazy for horses.
[US]R. Prather Always Leave ’Em Dying 100: I’m not crazy about going out, myself.
[US]H.S. Thompson letter 8 Dec. in Proud Highway (1997) 298: Boars with 9-inch fangs, all of them [...] crazy for the kill.
[US]‘Iceberg Slim’ Mama Black Widow 185: She’s crazy about my face.
[UK]Nova Apr. 81: I would like a man to be crazy about something, really involved with something.
[UK]‘Barbara Vine’ A Fatal Inversion 107: Your coypu is crazy for sugar beet.
[UK]T. Blacker Fixx 193: Sarah’s crazy about me.
[UK]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

crazy-ass

see separate entries.

crazy coke (n.) [coke n.1 (1)]

(drugs) phencyclidine.

[US]H. Feldman 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.
[US]ONDCP Street Terms 7: Crazy coke — PCP.
crazyhead (n.) [-head sfx (1)]

(US) a mad person.

A. Daly Under the Gaslight I i: Nonsense, crazy head, who would dare?
H.C. Brearley 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.
[UK]‘Henry Green’ Living (1978) 315: He kissed her while she laughed at him. ‘Crazyhead’ he kept on saying to her.
T. Sanchez Rabbit Boss 497: Com’ on in Cap'n Rex, you ol crazyhead you, you ol trout from Tahoe!
M. McMullen Until Death Do Us Part 64: It’s so damned obviously malice, or some crazyhead at play.
S. Boshell Crispy & James 415: Out of me way, crazyhead.
I.H. Benjamin 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.
crazy nigger (n.)

an independent black man, who refuses to accept an inferior social role.

[US](con. mid-1960s) N. McCall 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.
crazy pill (n.)

amphetamine.

[US]‘Lord Buckley’ 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.
crazy timbers (n.)

ribs.

[UK]‘An Amateur’ 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.
crazy water (n.) [its effects]

(Can./US) whisky.

[US]C.L. Clifford 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