| 释义 |
barmy, a.|ˈbɑːmɪ|
[f. barm n.2 + y1.]
1. Of, full of, or covered with barm; frothing.
1535Lyndesay Sat. Three Estates, Gud barmie aill. 1601B. Jonson Poetast. v. iii, That puft-up lump of barmy froth. c1817Hogg Tales II. 256 Like barmy beer in corked bottles.
2. a. fig. Full of ferment, excitedly active, flighty.
1602Ret. fr. Parnass. i. ii. (Arb.) 9 Such barmy heads wil alwaies be working. a1605Montgomerie Poems (1821) 49 Hope puts that hast into ȝour heid, Quhilk boyl's ȝour barmy brain. 1785Burns Wks. III. 85 Just now I've taen the fit o' rhyme, My barmie noddle's working prime.
b. = balmy a. 7 (of which it is an altered form, after barm n.2). slang.
1892Answers 27 Feb. 242/1 One plan is..to give foolish answers when asked questions. By this means the shammer gets known as being ‘barmy’ (weak-minded) among his shipmates. 1896Westm. Gaz. 30 May 8/1 Should not ‘balmy’ be ‘barmy’? I have known a person of weak intellect called ‘Barmy Billy’... The prisoner..meant to simulate semi-idiocy, or ‘barminess’, not ‘balminess’. 1902Ibid. 8 Nov. 2/1 All the boys think him barmy.
3. Comb. barmy-brained a., flighty; barmy-froth, (fig.) a flighty, empty-headed fellow.
1599Marston Sco. Villanie 166 Each odde puisne of the Lawyers Inne, Each barmy-froth, that last day did beginne To read his little. 1824Scott St. Ronan's xxxii, Cork-headed barmy-brained gowks!
▸ barmy army n. (also with capital initials) Brit. (a) derogatory a political faction regarded as extremist or fanatical; (b) Sport the supporters of a particular team, esp. those known for their raucous behaviour or vociferous support during matches; spec. (freq. as a self-designation) such a group of followers of the England cricket team.
1987Guardian 24 June 2/8 Delegates..expressed disillusion with the Labour Party and their resistance to what Mr Paul Gallent from Nottinghamshire called ‘the *barmy army of the Left’. 1989Independent (Nexis) 3 Jan. The best chance fell to City's Trevor Morley and he fired straight at Mervyn Day. The bananas drooped while Sergeant Wilko's Barmy Army cheered, to confirm the happier side. 1994J. Birmingham He died with Felafel in his Hand (1997) iv. 65, I could hear those drunken Barmy Army fools singing Rule Britannia a way off in the distance. 1996Sunday Tel. 4 Feb. (Rev. section) 24/1 The ‘Barmy Army’, English cricket's noisiest and most outrageous supporters, arrived in South Africa, raring to go, for the Test series this winter. 2002South Wales Echo (Nexis) 2 Aug. 8 During the 1995 Tory leadership contest it was Collins who described John Redwood's campaign team as a ‘swivel-eyed barmy army’. |