| 释义 |
hay·wire AHD[hāʹwīr'] D.J.[ˈheɪˌwaɪə]K.K.[ˈheˌwaɪr]n.（名词）- Wire used in baling hay.捆干草用的铁丝
adj.Informal（形容词）【非正式用语】- Mentally confused or erratic; crazy:发疯似的：头脑混乱的或不确定的；疯狂的：went haywire over the interminable delays.间断性发狂
- Not functioning properly; broken.故障的：不能正常工作的；出毛病的
- From the use of baling wire for makeshift repairs 源自用作代替修理物的铁丝的使用
注释- It may seem oddthat the wordhaywire should have come to describe something or someone that is not functioning properly. Haywire originally was in fact simply a compound of the words hay and wire, denoting wire used to bale things such as hay or straw.The term is first recorded as a noun in a debate that occurred in the Canadian House of Commons (1917);hence it is a Canadianism, or since it soon thereafter appeared in a United States publication, a North Americanism.We find an earlier (1905) attributive use,however, in the phrasehay wire outfit, a term used contemptuously for poorly equipped loggers. What lies behind this term is the practice of making repairs with haywire.Haywire is found in other contexts with the general sense "makeshift, inefficient,” from which comes the extended senses "not functioning properly" and "crazy.”看起来或许很奇怪，haywire 一词竟可以用来形容某物或某人不能正常运转。 事实上，haywire 是由 hay 和 wire 两个词组成的一个简单复合词， 指用来捆绑诸如干草或麦秆的铁丝，这个词在1917年加拿大众议院的一次辩论中第一次以一个名词的形式被记录下来，因此这是一个加拿大俗语或者说是北美俗词，因此这词很快就出现在美国出版物中。我们可以找到一个更早的（1905年）形容性用法，词组hay wire outfit, 是对装备不足的伐木工人的鄙称。 这个词的内涵是指准备用铁丝捆干草的工作。在其它语境中，haywire 被用来表示“临时的，效率低的”这种笼统的意思， 由此扩展出“不能正常工作的”以及“疯狂的”这些意义
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