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go haywire
(redirected from haywire)

    Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.06 sec.
go haywire (informal)
if a system or machine goes haywire, it stops working as it should and starts working in a way that is completely wrong. My CD player goes haywire every time my neighbour uses his cordless phone.
go haywire
to behave or work in a crazy or disorderly way. The system went haywire, and they charged her 71 times for a $50 check. She arrived at work early, hoping to get a lot done, but within minutes things went haywire.
Etymology: based on the idea that something is in such bad condition that it has to be held together with haywire (= wire used to tie together dried grasses)
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Plain and simply, this is inculturation gone haywire.
Church music by Kokoski, Paul / Catholic Insight
raising alarms that the river is tainted by pollution that drives hormone systems haywire.
Ten miles square by Frank, T.A. / Washington Monthly
And he sometimes goes a bit haywire when he tries to describe them in objective ways, for instance of a project by Revel he says it 'was suspended by steel bars drawn to the facades from elevator towers'.
Fine finnish by Davey, Peter / The Architectural Review
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