haywire

/ˌheɪˈwaɪər/

Other forms: haywires

When something goes haywire, it's out of control or completely chaotic. You'll sense that things have gone haywire at a birthday party if suddenly the young guests are having a crazed water gun fight indoors.

A riot is an extreme example of things going haywire, when people get angry enough about something that they ignore rules and laws, breaking windows and setting things on fire. A less serious case of things gone haywire could be a flock of chickens escaping an enclosure, running loose in your vegetable garden. The literal, and original, meaning of haywire is "wire used to bind hay." The wire's "springy unpredictability" led to today's common definition.

Definitions of haywire

1. noun

   wire for tying up bales of hay
   type of:

   wire

   ligament made of metal and used to fasten things or make cages or fences etc
2. adjective

   informal or slang terms for mentally irregular
   synonyms: around the bend, balmy, barmy, bats, batty, bonkers, buggy, cracked, crackers, daft, dotty, fruity, kookie, kooky, loco, loony, loopy, nuts, nutty, round the bend, wacky, whacky

   insane

   afflicted with or characteristic of mental derangement
3. adjective

   not functioning properly
   “has gone completely haywire”

   synonyms: amiss, awry, wrong

   malfunctioning, nonfunctional

   not performing or able to perform its regular function