rocker
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(one) is off (one's) rocker
One is crazy or mentally unsound or extremely foolish or foolhardy. I think Jane's grandmother is a little off her rocker these days. You're off your rocker if you think that's a good idea!
be off (one's) rocker
To be crazy or mentally unsound; to be extremely foolish or foolhardy. I think Jane's grandmother is a little off her rocker these days. You must be off your rocker if you think that's a good idea!
go off (one's) chump
To become crazy or mentally unsound. Usually used hyperbolically. I think Jane's grandmother has gone off her chump lately. I'm going to go off my chump if I have to hear that blasted song once more! You want to quit your job so you can sell bees for a living? Have you gone off your chump?
go off (one's) head
To become crazy or mentally unsound. Usually used hyperbolically. I think Jane's grandmother has gone off her head lately. I'm going to go off my head if I have to hear that blasted song once more! You want to quit your job so you can sell bees for a living? Have you gone off your head?
go off (one's) rocker
To become crazy or mentally unsound; to become extremely foolish or foolhardy. I'm going to go off my rocker if I have to hear that blasted song once more! I think Jane's grandmother has gone off her rocker lately. You must have gone off your rocker if you think that's a good idea!
off (one's) head
1. Crazy, insane, or eccentric. Often used humorously or sarcastically. Primarily heard in UK, Ireland. I think you're off your head for changing careers this late in life, but, hey, follow your dreams. He's off his head if he thinks he can get that engine fixed by this weekend. My auntie likes to let people think she's off her head, but she's actually incredibly clever and witty.
2. Severely intoxicated by alcohol or drugs. Primarily heard in UK, Ireland. No wonder he's failing—he's off his head every night! We all popped the pills and were off our heads by the time the concert started.
off (one's) rocker
Crazy; mentally unsound; extremely foolish. I'm going to go off my rocker if I have to hear that song one more time! I think Jane's grandmother is a little off her rocker these days. You must be off your rocker if you think that's a good idea!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
*off one's rocker
and *off one's nut; *off one's trolleyFig. crazy; silly. (*Typically: be ~; go ~.) Sometimes, Bob, I think you're off your rocker. Good grief, John. You're off your nut.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
off one's head
Also, off one's nut or rocker or trolley or chump . Crazy, out of one's mind, as in You're off your head if you think I'll pay your debts, or I think Jerry's gone off his nut over that car, or When she said we had to sleep in the barn we thought she was off her rocker, or The old man's been off his trolley for at least a year. The expression using head is colloquial and dates from the mid-1800s, nut has been slang for "head" since the mid-1800s; rocker, dating from the late 1800s, may allude to an elderly person falling from a rocking chair; trolley, also dating from the late 1800s, may be explained by George Ade's use of it in Artie (1896): "Any one that's got his head full of the girl proposition's liable to go off his trolley at the first curve." The last, chump, is also slang for "head" and was first recorded in 1859.
off one's rocker
Also, off one's nut or trolley . See off one's head.
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.
off your rocker
INFORMALIf someone is off their rocker, they are crazy. He must be off his rocker, paying that much for a shirt! Note: You can also say that someone goes off their rocker to mean that they become crazy. Sometimes I think he's going off his rocker.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
off your rocker
crazy. informalA rocker in this expression is a concave piece of wood or metal placed under a chair or cradle enabling it to rock back and forth.
1932 Evelyn Waugh Black Mischief It's going to be awkward for us if the Emperor goes off his rocker.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
ˌoff your ˈrocker
(informal, spoken, especially British English) (of a person) crazy: Spend a thousand pounds on a dress! Are you off your rocker?Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
off one’s rocker
mod. silly; giddy; crazy. (see also rocker.) That silly dame is off her rocker.
rocker
1. n. a rocking chair. (Not slang.) I love to spend a sunny afternoon in my rocker.
2. n. a rock and roll singer, song, or fan. (see also off one’s rocker.) Let’s listen to a good rocker.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
off (one's) rocker
Slang Out of one's mind; crazy.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
go off one's chump/head/rocker, to
To go crazy; to become insane. The oldest of these three expressions is “off his head,” which was current although slangy by the time Thomas Hood wrote The Turtles (1844), “He was ‘off his head.’” The word chump became British slang for “head” in the late nineteenth century; subsequently, “off his chump” was used several times by Shaw, in Pygmalion and Heartbreak House. Off one’s rocker comes from the same period, but its origin is more puzzling. One writer suggests it may indirectly allude to the elderly, associated with both rocking chairs and diminished mental capacity. Yet another variant is to go off one’s trolley, which alludes to a motorman getting off a streetcar to reposition the trolley wheel on the overhead wire that carried electric current to the car’s motor. To be disconnected from this power source came to mean becoming crazy, a usage dating from the late 1890s. With the demise of streetcars in many American cities, this expression is heard less often today.
off one's head, rocker, etc.
See go off one's head.
See also: off
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer