bonkersadj.
/ˈbɒŋkəz/, U.S. /ˈbɑŋkərz/, /ˈbɔŋkərz/ Originally and chiefly British.
1. Navy slang. Light-headed; mildly drunk. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [adjective] > drunk > partially drunk
merrya1382
semi-bousyc1460
pipe merry1542
totty1570
tipsy1577
martin-drunk1592
pleasant1596
mellow1611
tip-merry1612
flustered1615
lusticka1616
well to live1619
jolly1652
happy1662
hazy1673
top-heavy1687
hearty1695
half-seas-over1699
oiled1701
mellowish1703
half channelled over1709
drunkish1710
half-and-half1718
touched1722
uppisha1726
tosie1727
bosky1730
funny1751
fairish1756
cherry-merry1769
in suds1770
muddy1776
glorious1790
groggified1796
well-corned1800
fresh1804
to be mops and brooms1814
foggy1816
how-come-ye-so1816
screwy1820
off the nail1821
on (also, esp. in early use, upon) the go1821
swipey1821
muggy1822
rosy1823
snuffy1823
spreeish1825
elevated1827
up a stump1829
half-cockedc1830
tightish1830
tipsified1830
half shaved1834
screwed1837
half-shot1838
squizzed1845
drinky1846
a sheet in the wind1862
tight1868
toppy1885
tiddly1905
oiled-up1918
bonkers1943
sloshed1946
tiddled1956
hickey-
1943 R. Burgess & R. Blackburn We joined Navy 114 Bonkers, light in the head.
1948 E. Partridge et al. Dict. Forces' Slang 23 Bonkers, light in the head; slightly drunk. (Navy.) Perhaps from bonk, a blow or punch on the bonce or head.
2. colloquial.
a. Of a person: mad, crazy, insane. Chiefly in predicative use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > [adjective] > insanity or madness > affected with
woodc725
woodsekc890
giddyc1000
out of (by, from, of) wit or one's witc1000
witlessc1000
brainsickOE
amadc1225
lunaticc1290
madc1330
sickc1340
brain-wooda1375
out of one's minda1387
frenetica1398
fonda1400
formada1400
unwisea1400
brainc1400
unwholec1400
alienate?a1425
brainless1434
distract of one's wits1470
madfula1475
furious1475
distract1481
fro oneself1483
beside oneself1490
beside one's patience1490
dementa1500
red-wood?1507
extraught1509
misminded1509
peevish1523
bedlam-ripe1525
straughta1529
fanatic1533
bedlama1535
daft1540
unsounda1547
stark raving (also staring) mad1548
distraughted1572
insane1575
acrazeda1577
past oneself1576
frenzy1577
poll-mad1577
out of one's senses1580
maddeda1586
frenetical1588
distempered1593
distraught1597
crazed1599
diswitted1599
idle-headed1599
lymphatical1603
extract1608
madling1608
distracteda1616
informala1616
far gone1616
crazy1617
March mada1625
non compos mentis1628
brain-crazed1632
demented1632
crack-brained1634
arreptitiousa1641
dementate1640
dementated1650
brain-crackeda1652
insaniated1652
exsensed1654
bedlam-witteda1657
lymphatic1656
mad-like1679
dementative1685
non compos1699
beside one's gravity1716
hyte1720
lymphated1727
out of one's head1733
maddened1735
swivel-eyed1758
wrong1765
brainsickly1770
fatuous1773
derangedc1790
alienated1793
shake-brained1793
crack-headed1796
flighty1802
wowf1802
doitrified1808
phrenesiac1814
bedlamite1815
mad-braineda1822
fey1823
bedlamitish1824
skire1825
beside one's wits1827
as mad as a hatter1829
crazied1842
off one's head1842
bemadded1850
loco1852
off one's nut1858
off his chump1864
unsane1867
meshuga1868
non-sane1868
loony1872
bee-headed1879
off one's onion1881
off one's base1882
(to go) off one's dot1883
locoed1885
screwy1887
off one's rocker1890
balmy or barmy on (or in) the crumpet1891
meshuggener1892
nutty1892
buggy1893
bughouse1894
off one's pannikin1894
ratty1895
off one's trolley1896
batchy1898
twisted1900
batsc1901
batty1903
dippy1903
bugs1904
dingy1904
up the (also a) pole1904
nut1906
nuts1908
nutty as a fruitcake1911
bugged1920
potty1920
cuckoo1923
nutsy1923
puggled1923
blah1924
détraqué1925
doolally1925
off one's rocket1925
puggle1925
mental1927
phooey1927
crackers1928
squirrelly1928
over the edge1929
round the bend1929
lakes1934
ding-a-ling1935
wacky1935
screwball1936
dingbats1937
Asiatic1938
parlatic1941
troppo1941
up the creek1941
screwed-up1943
bonkers1945
psychological1952
out to lunch1955
starkers1956
off (one's) squiff1960
round the twist1960
yampy1963
out of (also off) one's bird1966
out of one's skull1967
whacked out1969
batshit1971
woo-woo1971
nutso1973
out of (one's) gourd1977
wacko1977
off one's meds1986
1945 Daily Mirror 12 July 2/6 If we do that often enough, we won't lose contact with things and we won't go ‘bonkers’.
1961 A. Simpson & R. Galton Four Hancock Scripts 60/2 By half-past three he'll be raving bonkers.
1976 Observer 7 Mar. 26/1 You must not think me unsympathetic to The Cause if I say that the bonkers-housewife play is getting to be a bit of a genre piece now.
1991 D. Purcell Place of Stones (1992) viii. 292 The habit had driven Una bonkers while they had been going out together.
2016 H. Bourne How Hard can Love Be? xxviii. 402 Are we totally and completely bonkers?
b. Of a thing, situation, etc.: mad, crazy; ludicrous, ridiculous; wacky.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > derision, ridicule, or mockery > fact or condition of being mocked or ridiculed > [adjective] > ridiculous
gamelyOE
jape-worthyc1374
foolisha1500
ridiculous1533
ludibrious1570
laughable1600
mockablea1616
laughworthy1616
ludicral1656
derisible1657
absurd1716
grotesque1747
tomfool1762
irrisible1767
ludicrous1782
deridable1804
saugrenu1876
screwy1887
derisive1896
josh1908
nutty1915
derisory1923
dingbat1935
bonkers1961
joky1964
1961 Financial Times 21 Nov. 10/8 Well, it all sounds bonkers to me.
1989 Washington Post (Nexis) 15 June c7 Even in a bonkers film, her wacky performance manages to stand out.
1997 Big Issue 29 Sept. 11/4 For more bizarre and bonkers stories, buy a copy of The Big Issue's Death By Spaghetti.
2008 Daily Tel. 24 Nov. 30/7 The rest of the show is an utter delight, as Izzard escorts us on a bonkers history of everything.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1943