English

Verb

have a **** loose

1. (idiomatic) To be insane, irrational, or eccentric.

   I think old Mr. Jacobs has a **** loose; he keeps trying to feed his cats bird seed.

   • 1873, Anthony Trollope, The Eustace Diamonds, ch. 69:

     Richard, glorious in new livery, . . . went with his sad message, first to the church and then to the banqueting-hall in Albemarle Street. "Not any wedding?" said the head-waiter at the hotel. "I knew they was folks as would have a **** loose somewheres."

   • 1916, Eleanor H. Porter, Just David, ch 22:

     "You know he really has got a **** loose in his head somewheres, an' there ain't any one but what says he's the town fool, all right."

   • 2010 July 16, Alessandra Stanley, "Television: Back to Work for ‘Mad Men’," New York Times (retrieved 16 June 2016):

     Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) would be just another irritating office brown-noser, a prep school Sammy Glick, except that he too has a **** loose and a mystical rapport with firearms.

Translations

See also

• screwball
• screwy