Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Containing or resembling barm or yeast; frothy.
- Hence Barmy-brained; empty-headed.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Full of barm or froth; in a ferment.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. informal or slang terms for mentally irregular
- adj. marked by spirited enjoyment
Etymologies
- Sense 2, alteration of balmy.
Examples
“It's also fun to find out, via these collected letters, the types of books and movies Farrell was consuming while writing and editing Troubles: Cold Comfort Farm, Thomas Hardy ( "barmy"), The Garden of Finzi-Continis, Easy Rider.”
“Rules and regulations are never anything other than "barmy" and planning strategies are invariably "Soviet-style".”
“In London, the Foreign Office says the idea of Britain in NAFTA is "barmy," as it would have to pull out of the EU entirely.”
“In a further twist to this story, Baker must know that there is absolutely nothing he, as an MP, can do about changing what he condemns as a "barmy" directive.”
“BIRMINGHAM MEP Mike Nattrass is determined to prove there are no flies on him by rallying against a "barmy" EU directive outlawing pepper from insect traps.”
“Shadow Home Secretary David Davis called the idea "barmy".”
“Mrs Hill described her sacking as "barmy" and said she would be opening a bottle of champagne to celebrate her victory.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“The report colorfully describes Choudary as "barmy," but as is so often the case, the idea of Muslims 'conquering Rome as a prelude to the end of days comes from Muhammad himself.”
“Boris Johnson today slammed "barmy" health and safety rules after a”
“Traditionalists have branded the ban 'barmy', saying that red ink makes it easier for children to spot errors and improve.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘barmy’.
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Bonkers
List for old and new terms and phrases meaning crazy, nuts, batty, prone to extreme nervousness, etc.
bonkers, crazy, nuts, batty, batchy, bats in the belfry, scatty, crackers, windy, gone crackers, cracked, dingo and 92 more...
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Mots Fous
Describing the demented--as colorfully as possible.
bats in the belfry, out to lunch, daft, stark ravin' mad, unsound, barmy, nuts but nuts, barking, touched, cracked, doolally, potty and 22 more...
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Oh yeah? You and what army?
For more captains, see the O Captain! My Captain! list.
smarmy, an army of me, colonel sanders, colonel parker, dumbledore's army, major catastrophe, barmy, majordomo, corporal punishment, private eye, private property, private parts and 59 more...
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words 2
janiform, remora, sprat, stoa, sone, lea, scow, atoll, Weltschmerz, barmy, concupiscent, actinic and 13 more...
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Bonkers
crackers, barmy, half-baked, mental, unhinged, barking, cuckoo, cracked, nuts, mad, insane, touched and 24 more...
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britishisms
A tip of my hat to the snarkiest of English dialects. Here here!
Ponce, snog, bloody, barmy, blasted, blooming, bleeding, knackered, poppycock, wanker, tosser, cracked and 52 more...
PossibleUnderscore I'm surprised no one has pointed out how similar this word sounds to Barney. Once I live to see the day Barney goes barmy, I can die peacefully. ;-) Jul 25, 2009
brtom ... that miscible rendering (undistill’d) of sheer barmy Discovery up against hare-brain’d Gossip ...
John Latta, Isola di Rifiuti Dec 19, 2006