batchy

1. UKslangOf unsound mind, crazy; lacking good sense or judgment, silly.

   It’s batchy to get married at eighteen.

   1962, Alan Sillitoe, Key to the Door, New York: Knopf, Part 4, Chapter 26, p. 386

   2 more examples

   1926, U.K. House of Commons, Report from the Select Committee on Nursing Homes (Registration), London: H.M.S.O., p. 195, I was speaking to the matron about different cases in her home, and she said to me, to use her own expression, that this woman was “batchy”; she meant that she was mentally affected after her operation.

   “Roll up your sleeve, Alice, and I will make you happier than you’ve ever been.” She shook her head. “Sod off. I’ve heard of that stuff. Sends you batchy.”

   1997, Maureen Jennings, chapter 11, in Except the Dying, New York: St. Martin’s Press, page 127

   Synonyms: barmy, batty, 5150, bananas, barking, barking mad, fey, buggish

2. obsoleteslangnauticalExperiencing a loss of courage and self-control.

   He’d seen a great deal older and more seasoned men than that lot go batchy through fatigue or some inexplicable, inner nervous flaw.

   1958, Robert Carse, chapter 6, in Great Circle,, New York: Bantam, page 73

   2 more examples

   […] two of them [the crew] were now temporarily incapable of either good or harm. They had gone quite “batchy” with fright, requiring a not too gentle application of the tiller to their heads in order to keep them quiet.

   1898, Frank T. Bullen, chapter 5, in The Cruise of the “Cachalot,”, London: Smith, Elder, page 39

   “Does that mean we have to go out in those small boats?” he asked of Sherwood […]. “Nothing less! But buck up, old man, and don’t go batchy, as these whalers call it!”

   1925, Patrick Casey, chapter 10, in Sea Plunder, Boston: Small, Maynard, pages 68–69

   Synonyms: rattled, unnerved

plural batchies

1. slangAn apartment consisting mainly of one large room which is the living room, dining room, and bedroom combined.

   Well, they argue until in the end Brackley find himself holding on to Teena suitcase and they on the way to the little batchy he have in Golders Green at the time.

   1957, Sam Selvon, “Brackley and the Bed”, in Victor J. Ramraj, editor, An Anthology of World Writing in English, Peterborough: Broadview Press, published 1995, pages 374–375

   Synonyms: bachelor apartment, studio apartment

2. datedslangAn unmarried man, a bachelor; a roommate who is a fellow bachelor.

   For the batchies, Dr. Gieseler was on the firing line, but he weakened toward the end, after having his opponents at his mercy, and let the married men clout the ball all over the lot.

   1912, H. F. Harrington, T. T. Frankenberg, Essentials in Journalism, Boston: Ginn, page 240

plural batchies

1. ScotlandobsoleteslangA baker.