bughouse

noun, adj — 6 senses

bughouse

noun

/ˈbʌɡhaʊs/

Etymology From bug + house.

1

US, Slang A flea-infested hotel, lodging-house etc.

2

US, Slang A prison.

3

US, Slang A hospital, especially a lunatic asylum.

Well, he was ready for the bughouse, certainly.1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 277:

4

South Africa, Slang A cheap and dirty cinema.

5

Board games, Chess, Games Abbreviation, Clipping Clipping of bughouse chess

Derived terms: bughouse chess

bughouse

adj

Etymology From bug + house.

1

US, Slang Crazy, insane.

“Get up and dress. I can stand a rattlesnake, but I hate a liar. Do I have to tell you again?” He caught McGuire by the neck and stood him on the floor. / “Say, friend,” cried McGuire wildly, “are you bughouse? I’m sick—see? I’ll croak if I got to hustle. What’ve I done to yer?”—he began his chronic whine—“I never asked yer to⸺”1903 February, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hygeia at the Solito”, in Everybody’s Magazine, volume VIII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: John Wanamaker, →ISSN, page 177, columns 1–2:
'Just what's up on this train? It seems bughouse to me.'1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 8, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 254:

1 more example

Ewball, man, that is some bughouse talk.2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 1127:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.