nutty as a fruitcake

(as) nutty as a fruitcake

Crazy or wacky. Usually used humorously. The kids are always nutty as fruitcakes when they've had something sugary to eat. My Aunt Jeannie has always been nutty as a fruitcake. I know some of my students think I'm as nutty as a fruitcake because of my weird methods.

See also: fruitcake, nutty

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

*nutty as a fruitcake

 and nuttier than a fruitcake

crazy. (*Also: as ~.) Don't pay any attention to John; he's nutty as a fruitcake. Mary's schemes for making money are nuttier than a fruitcake.

See also: fruitcake, nutty

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

nutty as a fruitcake

Crazy, idiotic, as in Mary's nutty as a fruitcake if she thinks she can get away with that. The adjective nutty meaning "insane" was first recorded in 1821; the similarity to fruitcake, which literally contains nuts as well as fruit, was first recorded in 1935.

See also: fruitcake, nutty

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.

nutty as a fruitcake

BRITISH, INFORMAL

If someone is as nutty as a fruitcake, they are crazy. The man is a charmer — intense, funny, and nutty as a fruitcake. Note: `Nutty' or `nuts' is an informal word for mad. Nutty can also mean containing a lot of nuts in the way that a fruitcake often does.

See also: fruitcake, nutty

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

nutty as a fruitcake

completely crazy. informal

Nutty meaning ‘mad or crazy’ dates from the late 19th century, and this phrase, punning on the sense of ‘full of nuts’, from the 1930s. Fruitcake is also used on its own to mean ‘a crazy or eccentric person’.

See also: fruitcake, nutty

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

(as) nutty as a ˈfruitcake

(informal, humorous) (of a person) completely crazy: He’s as nutty as a fruitcake. Do you know what he did yesterday? He had lunch outside in the pouring rain.

See also: fruitcake, nutty

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

nutty as a fruitcake

verb

See as nutty as a fruitcake

See also: fruitcake, nutty

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.