Word Study
haywire
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun haywire has 1 sense
Adjective haywire has 2 senses
- haywire(s = adj.all) 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 - informal or slang terms for mentally irregular; "it used to drive my husband balmy"
- haywire(s = adj.all) amiss, awry, wrong - not functioning properly; "something is amiss"; "has gone completely haywire"; "something is wrong with the engine"
OXFORD DICTIONARY
haywire, adj. colloq.
1 badly disorganized, out of control.
2 (of a person) badly disturbed; erratic.
1 badly disorganized, out of control.
2 (of a person) badly disturbed; erratic.
Etymology
HAY(1) + WIRE, from the use of hay-baling wire in makeshift repairs
THESAURUS
haywire
amiss, askew, awry, balmy, bananas, barmy, bats, batty, beany, bonkers, broken, buggy, bughouse, bugs, cockeyed, convulsed, crackers, cuckoo, daffy, deranged, dippy, disarranged, discomfited, discomposed, disconcerted, dislocated, disordered, disorderly, disorganized, disturbed, dotty, flaky, flipped, freaked-out, fruitcakey, fruity, gaga, goofy, in disorder, in disrepair, inoperative, just plain nuts, kooky, loony, loopy, misplaced, nuts, nutty, off the hinges, off the track, off the wall, on the blink, on the fritz, out of commission, out of condition, out of gear, out of joint, out of kelter, out of kilter, out of order, out of place, out of repair, out of tune, out of whack, perturbed, potty, roily, round the bend, screwball, screwballs, screwy, shuffled, slaphappy, turbid, turbulent, unsettled, upset, wacky
For further exploring for "haywire" in Webster Dictionary Online