batchy

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English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective[edit]

batchy

  1. (UK, slang) Of unsound mind, crazy; lacking good sense or judgment, silly.
    Synonyms: barmy, batty; see also Thesaurus:insane
    • 1926, U.K. House of Commons, Report from the Select Committee on Nursing Homes (Registration), London: H.M.S.O., p. 195,[3]
      I was speaking to the matron about different cases in her home, and she said to me, to use her own expression, that this woman was “batchy”; she meant that she was mentally affected after her operation.
    • 1962, Alan Sillitoe, Key to the Door‎[4], New York: Knopf, Part 4, Chapter 26, p. 386:
      It’s batchy to get married at eighteen.
    • 1997, Maureen Jennings, chapter 11, in Except the Dying‎[5], New York: St. Martin’s Press, page 127:
      “Roll up your sleeve, Alice, and I will make you happier than you’ve ever been.”
      She shook her head. “Sod off. I’ve heard of that stuff. Sends you batchy.”
  2. (nautical, slang, obsolete) Experiencing a loss of courage and self-control.
    Synonyms: rattled, unnerved
    • 1898, Frank T. Bullen, chapter 5, in The Cruise of the “Cachalot,”‎[6], London: Smith, Elder, page 39:
      […] two of them [the crew] were now temporarily incapable of either good or harm. They had gone quite “batchy” with fright, requiring a not too gentle application of the tiller to their heads in order to keep them quiet.
    • 1925, Patrick Casey, chapter 10, in Sea Plunder, Boston: Small, Maynard, pages 68–69:
      “Does that mean we have to go out in those small boats?” he asked of Sherwood […] .
      “Nothing less! But buck up, old man, and don’t go batchy, as these whalers call it!”
    • 1958, Robert Carse, chapter 6, in Great Circle,‎[7], New York: Bantam, page 73:
      He’d seen a great deal older and more seasoned men than that lot go batchy through fatigue or some inexplicable, inner nervous flaw.

Etymology 2[edit]

bachelor +‎ -y

Noun[edit]

batchy (plural batchies)

  1. (slang) An apartment consisting mainly of one large room which is the living room, dining room, and bedroom combined.
    Synonyms: bachelor apartment, studio apartment
    • 1957, Sam Selvon, “Brackley and the Bed”, in Victor J. Ramraj, editor, An Anthology of World Writing in English‎[8], Peterborough: Broadview Press, published 1995, pages 374–375:
      Well, they argue until in the end Brackley find himself holding on to Teena suitcase and they on the way to the little batchy he have in Golders Green at the time.
  2. (slang, dated) An unmarried man, a bachelor; a roommate who is a fellow bachelor.[1]
    • 1912, H. F. Harrington, T. T. Frankenberg, Essentials in Journalism‎[9], Boston: Ginn, page 240:
      For the batchies, Dr. Gieseler was on the firing line, but he weakened toward the end, after having his opponents at his mercy, and let the married men clout the ball all over the lot.

Etymology 3[edit]

batch +‎ -y

Noun[edit]

batchy (plural batchies)

  1. (Scotland, slang, obsolete) A baker.[2]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Lester V. Berrey and Melvin Van den Bark, The American Thesaurus of Slang, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1947.[1]
  2. ^ David Donaldson, Supplement to Jamieson’s Scottish Dictionary, London: Alexander Gardner, 1887.[2]
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