loony bin

plural loony bins · alternative looney bin

1. derogatoryslangA lunatic asylum.

   And perhaps, of course, her dreams had seemed more real to other people, too, than life could be—there was always that impossibility, more real than anything which seemed merely possible—at least in this old house by the roaring waves, this loony bin.

   1965, Marguerite Young, Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, Scribner, page 426

   Synonyms: bedlam, bin, booby-hatch, booby house, bughouse, crazy house, cuckoo's nest, funny farm