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doolally. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
doolally, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Etymology
From doolally tap (“camp fever; (by extension) eccentricity; madness”), with doolally interpreted as an adjective. Doolally is derived from the Deolali transit camp, a former British army camp about 100 miles (160 kilometres) northeast of Bombay, India, used as a transit station for soldiers awaiting transport back to Britain;[1] while tap (“Indian malarial fever”) is from Persian or Urdu تب (tab, “malarial fever”), ultimately from Sanskrit ताप (tāpa, “fever; heat; pain, torment”).[2]
Pronunciation
Adjective
doolally (comparative more doolally, superlative most doolally) (chiefly UK, Ireland, slang)
- (originally military slang) Eccentric; insane, mad.
- Synonyms: (dated) doolally tap; see also Thesaurus:insane
, “How I Came to Make ‘History’!”, in
Over the Fireside with Silent Friends, London:
John Lane,
The Bodley Head; New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, published
1921,
→OCLC,
page 149:
"Will you write me an Essay on Corsets?" / "On what?" I asked incredulously—knowing that he had been a distinguished soldier, and suspecting that he had suddenly developed what the soldiers describe as "a touch of the doolally."]
1965, New English Dramatists (Penguin Plays), number 8, Harmondsworth, Middlesex : Penguin Books, →OCLC, page 40:Doolally tap. It's the strain see – and it gets the doolally lads first.
1993, Blake Morrison, “Foetal”, in And When Did You Last See Your Father?, London: Granta Books in association with Penguin Books, published 1994, →ISBN, page 66:[H]e took three sleeping-pills in the night, so he says, and he's all doped and doolally now. I need your help to move him.
2000, Patrick Gale, “Blue House”, in Rough Music, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published May 2001, →ISBN, page 54:"Now you're being silly. Promise you'll put me in a home when I get really doolally." / "If you're really doolally you won't know if I have or not." / "So promise."
- (by extension) Carried away by enjoyment, excitement, etc.
1999 May 13, Bill Brewster, Frank Broughton, quoting Pete Tong, “Pete Tong: Essential Selector: Interviewed by Bill and Frank in London, May 13, 1999”, in The Record Players: The Story of Dance Music Told by History’s Greatest DJs, London: Virgin Books, published 2012, →ISBN, page 424:You are there to entertain. Education is something we like doing. That's not actually the biggest thing on the night, when people are queuing to get in and paying their money. They want to go doolally to their favourite records.
2016, M. G. Leonard , “The Entomology Vaults”, in Beetle Boy, Frome, Somerset: Chicken House, →ISBN, page 49:'I've never had a pet before,' Darkus gazed happily at Baxter [a beetle]. 'Thank you.' / 'That's all right, lad.' Uncle Max threw his hands up in defeat. 'I can hardly say no, when I know Barty would say yes.' / Darkus looked up, surprised. 'He would?' / 'Of course! A handsome hexapod like this? He'd be doolally about it!'
2021, Kaz Cooke, “Sit Down & Shoosh”, in You’re Doing It Wrong: A History of Bad & Bonkers Advice to Women, : Viking, →ISBN, page 35:Australia went doolally for the visit: the Queen [Elizabeth II] waved away flies in 57 towns over 58 days; inspected an endless row of sheeps' arses in Wagga; ate Australia-shaped sandwiches with Vegemite borders at a reception in Rockhampton; and said hello to a bedridden woman in Hobart who was trundled four miles for the meeting.
Translations
carried away by enjoyment, excitement, etc.
References
- ^ “doolally, adj.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2021; “doolally, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ “tap, n.4”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2018.
Further reading