whacky adj.
1. (orig. US) eccentric; as n. in cite 1849.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Paul Pry 30 Apr. 3/1: Come, come Andrew [...] Allow the old woman to clean your house and wash the children; and, like a man, operate in your own business. Be up and stirring, you old whacky. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | (ref. to late 19C) Amer. Madam (1981) 94: It also taught me to be wary of a whacky dangerous guest, for Frenchy told me there were signs to recognize a john who was off his trolley. | |
| Pic (N.Y.) Mar. 7: Nothing disgusts players of gut-bucket, screwball, and whacky music so much as the Schmaltz or sweet type played by a ‘Long-Underwear gang.’. | |
| Men in Battle 269: He’s wacky [...] shell-shocked. | |
| ‘Monster’s Malice’ Dan Turner – Hollywood Detective May 🌐 ‘Are you plastered or plain wacky?’ I asked him. ‘I’m not drunk. [...] But if by wacky you mean insane, I’m afraid the answer is yes. You see, I — I think I’m losing my mind.’. | |
| Amboy Dukes 99: You’re becoming even whackier than you are. | |
| In For Life 89: Most of us must have gone just a little whacky. | |
| Hoodlums (2021) 119: [in context of drug use] ‘Just wacky on that squirrel powder’. | |
| (con. 1948) Cell 2455 284: The story’s just wacky enough to be true. | |
| Jubb (1966) 24: Britain’s whackiest boozer, they call it [...] He’s mad, is that landlord. | |
| How to Talk Dirty 21: Other guys had gone wacky. | |
| Carlito’s Way 24: She was just a kid and very whacky. | |
| Train to Hell 128: I’m sure you’ll find some wacky funny Jewish humour in what he has to say. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bulletin issues 5626-33 92/2: ‘Whacky’, which has to do with the number of kangaroos loose in the top paddock. | |
| Cause of Death (1997) 116: I’m beginning to think the guy was wacky. | |
| Campus Sl. Fall 9: wack, or whack – awry, unusual. | |
| Observer Screen 23 Jan. 7: One is the beginning, which is so whacky it seems like a trailer for another [...] feature. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 277: He [...] is a bit, I don’t know, wacky. | |
| Riptide Ultra-Glide 182: The wacky stories we have in our state’s history! | |
| Guardian G2 10 May 11/1: This is just a whacky idea I had [etc]. |
2. obsessed, passionate about.
| Lonely Boy Blues (1965) 53: One general was simply wacky over me, proposed to me every time he had me in the dark! |
In derivatives
eccentricity.
| On Broadway 19 Sept. [synd. col.] Cliff Navarro and Colonel Stoopnagle traded wackiness and double talk the other eve. | |
 | Amer. Record Guide XV 160: These are not samples of Spike’s best brand of whackiness, but they are amusing. | |
| Billboard 4 Aug. 52/3: Burke had his first taste of Hollywood’s whackiness soon after his arrival on the coast. | |
| Baseball Digest May 58: This whackiness, intended or otherwise, has helped the baseball fan not only to survive but to keep coming back despite awesome obstacles and deterrents. | |
| Cary Grant 59: Grant, Young, and Miss Bennett sustained an inspired level of sophisticated whackiness. | |
| Donald Barthelme’s Fiction 81: Amateurs [...] returns in part to the sense of whackiness that was a staple in the earlier volumes. | |
| Another Frank Capra 26: And the primary agency of unity, on Bergman’s reading, was a quality of ‘whackiness’ deriving from the ‘screwball’ idiosyncrasy of the primary characters. | |
| Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 173: After all that wackiness the prince [...] went and also gave poor old Sirajirao the sandshoe in favour of another of his posho conveyances . | |
| Game Axis Unwired Mag. Dec. 49: All kinds of whackiness ensue here with Logan and Jean Grey being together. | |
![[SA]](/static/img/flags/sa.png "South Africa") | Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) 27 May 🌐 [headling] Whacking with wackiness. |
In compounds
(drugs) marijuana; also attrib.
| CB Slanguage 120: Whackey Tobackey: marijuana. | |
| Muscle for the Wing 30: Wanda took a Baggie of home grown wacky-backy from the vegetable crisper. | |
| Prison Sl. 71: Wacky Backy A term used to indicate marijuana. It is primarily used by the country ’n’ western or cowboy population of the prison. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | ‘A Smart Cunt’ in Acid House 195: You’re as high as a bloody kite, son. What are you on? [...] that whacky baccy? | |
| Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 270: That one rated right up there with acid and wacky weed. | |
| Bug (Aus.) 16 Aug. 🌐 I’ve watched you play and trust me, lad, you don’t need wacky tabbaccy. | |
| Indep. Rev. 1 Dec. 4: The late Beatle once befriended a monkey [...] and shared the fumes of his ‘wacky-baccy’ with it. | |
| Soho 51: Not that Alex had ever done drugs, apart from Es or disco biscuits as they were known, and the odd puff of wacky baccy. | |
| ONDCP Street Terms 22: Wacky weed — Marijuana. [Ibid.] Whackatabacky — Marijuana. | |
| Something Fishy (2006) 222: I could see the whacky-backy patch. | |
| Big Issue (Cape Town) 10 Jan. 20/3: People have been smoking the whacky weed for centuries. | |
| (con. 1980s) Skagboys 71: One young cop [...] asks us if I’ve been smoking ’waccy baccy’. | |
| California Bear 13: ‘Middle-aged guys like you and me, we’re perfect for the wacky weed’. |
(US drugs) cocaine.
| ‘Wacky Dust’ 🎵 They call it wacky dust / It’s from a hot cornet, / It gives your feet a feeling so breezy / And oh, it’s so easy to get. |
(US Und.) a psychiatric institution.
| Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl. |
In phrases
to lose emotional control.
| ‘Some Assembly Required’ in 22 Sept. ep. of Buffy the Vampire Slayer [TV script] Love makes you do the wacky. | |
| USA Today 23 Dec. 04D: Adams started watching the show two years ago, after hearing Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) say, ‘Love makes you do the wacky’ while he was channel-flipping. |
(US) keen on, fascinated by.
| On the Yard (2002) 51: Hello, Janice Lee. Are you still whacky for khaki? |