like a chicken with its head cut off
With great haste and in a careless or senseless manner. Instead of running around like a chicken with its head cut off, make a list of items you need to finish and then work on them in order.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
like a chicken with its head cut off
In a frenzied manner, distractedly, crazily. For example, She ran around the station looking for her lost bag like a chicken with its head cut off . This graphic simile alludes to the fact that the body of a chicken whose head has been cut off sometimes totters about crazily before succumbing.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
like a chicken with its head cut off, (run about)
Behave distractedly and crazily. This graphic simile apparently is based on barnyard experience: the body of a decapitated chicken sometimes continues to totter about crazily for a time following the dirty deed.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
like a chicken with its head cut off
In a frenzy. Chickens have been known to twitch and even stagger around for several minutes after being decapitated, the result of a reflexive response. A person in the throes of extreme emotional agitation exhibits the same sort of fowl play.
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price