banjaxed

English

WOTD – 29 November 2008

Etymology

From banjax +‎ -ed.

Pronunciation

• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈbæn.dʒækst/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ændʒækst

Verb

banjaxed

1. simple past and past participle of banjax

Adjective

banjaxed (comparative more banjaxed, superlative most banjaxed)

1. (British and Ireland, slang) Broken, ruined, shattered; confounded.
   • 1939, Flann O'Brien [pseudonym; Brian O'Nolan], At Swim-Two-Birds:

     Here is his black heart sitting there as large as life in the middle of the pulp of his banjaxed corpse.

   • 1972, Edna O'Brien, Night, published 2001:

     Then it got banjaxed, at a supper party to which he brought me.

   • 2011, Will Self, “The frowniest spot on Earth”, in London Review of Books, XXXIII.9:

     Lindsay again waxes approving over Ballard’s hymn to the banjaxed landscape of the Heathrow environs, with its choked arterial roads, light industrial units and warehousing entrepots.

   • 2022 July 29, Rory Carroll, quoting Derek Desmond, “Fare deal: Ireland joins Europe-wide efforts to coax people out of cars”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Part of the strategy is to dramatically increase the number of electric cars but people in rural areas are proving hesitant because of cost and lack of charging points. “If you were in the countryside you’d be banjaxed. You can’t plug it into a ditch, you can’t plug it into a cow,” said Derek Desmond, 50, a handyman from Tipperary.

2. (British and Ireland, slang) Tired, sleepy, cream crackered.

   I'm completely banjaxed!

Synonyms

• (broken): See also Thesaurus:broken
• (tired): See also Thesaurus:fatigued