headless

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like a headless chicken

With great haste and in a careless and/or senseless manner. Instead of running around like a headless chicken, make a list of the things you need to finish and then work on them in that order.

be running around like a headless chicken

To be acting with great haste and in a careless and/or senseless manner. Before I made a list of the things that I needed to finish, I was running around like a headless chicken.

See also: around, chicken, headless, like, running

run around like a headless chicken

Working quickly and with much activity while trying to accomplish a large number of tasks, perhaps simultaneously. Give yourself enough time before deadline so that you don't have to be running around like a headless chicken at the last minute.

See also: around, chicken, headless, like, run

be running around like a headless chicken

BRITISH or

be running around like a chicken with its head cut off

mainly AMERICAN

COMMON If you are running around like a headless chicken, you are behaving or moving in an uncontrolled or disorganized way, and not thinking calmly or logically. Instead of running round like a headless chicken, try to use your efforts in a more productive way. They were all running around like chickens with their heads cut off — they didn't know where to go, where to sit, or who to talk to. Note: You can also describe people as being like headless chickens. After the other team scored, we started playing like headless chickens. Note: Chickens have been known to run around for a short time after they have had their heads cut off.

See also: around, chicken, headless, like, running

running (or rushing) about like a headless chicken

acting in a panic-stricken manner and not thinking clearly about what should be done.

A decapitated chicken may continue to flap about for a few moments before finally expiring.

See also: chicken, headless, like, running

run around like a ˌheadless ˈchicken

be very busy and active trying to do something, but not very organized, with the result that you do not succeed: What a day! I’ve been running around like a headless chicken all day!

After a chicken’s head is cut off its body may continue to move for a few moments.

See also: around, chicken, headless, like, run

References in periodicals archive ?

Early morning Tuesday, he said a neighbor told them a headless body was found near their home.

Man beheaded in Pagadian City

We can safely call 2017 the year of the headless CMS," says Guseva.

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But none of the UK's decapitated demons are as famous as the Headless Horseman of Butterton Moor.

Death rides a horse; Headless Horseman terrorising Midlands moorlands since Victorian times

The headless torso was found by a member of the public who was cycling on Copenhagen's southern Amager island on Monday, near where Kim was believed to have died.

TORSO DNA MATCH; Body found in Baltic is sub mystery reporter

Although the website doesn't mention which villain will make an appearance, it's safe to assume from the title and the fact that it is a popular villain that this enemy is The Headless Horseman.

Will The Headless Horseman Return To 'Sleepy Hollow'?

A QUARRY truck driver has told how a headless deer has been found close to where a lion was reportedly sighted.

Headless deer is found after sighting of lion

However, there is a noticeable lack of information on the depth that headless compression screws should be embedded below the cartilage surface and the associated postoperative complications.

An Unexpected Complication after Headless Compression Screw Fixation of an Osteochondral Fracture of Patella

Head styles include concave, headless chisel, headless dome, serrated, and spear.

Screw-in test probe

Which means they all run around like headless chickens looking for something ridiculous - in fact, one year I think it may have even been headless chickens.

WE LOVE REALITY

The commission is headless since October, 2011 and the members have also retired, reported.

IHK defunct rights body catches attention of court

Two headless winged sphinxes guarding the entrance of a tomb at the base of a flight of steps were uncovered in Serres in northern Greece, not far from Thessaloniki, during an archaeological excavation.

Ancient find's tourist boost

And since Apollo is the god of music and poetry, then aren't we poets, like Apollo's headless statue (or even like his headless son Orpheus), the "Headless singers" Dickey exhorts to sound off?

Letters

June 1, 2014 (TORIT) -- Panic and fear gripped residents of Torit, the capital of South Sudan's Eastern Equatoria state, when a goat produced a headless young one over the weekend.

E. Equatoria state witnesses birth of headless goat

The Thermo Scientific VersaCool Refrigerated Circulating Bath features innovative headless technology that offers researchers working with temperature-sensitive samples a larger bath area than other models.

Bath's 'headless' design saves space

There is oil lamps, coins and a headless statue of a woman from Roman Empire among the artifacts.