doolally tap meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

doolally tap

noun

Etymology From Deolali (the name of a former British army camp 100 miles north-east of Bombay, used as a transit station for soldiers awaiting transport back to Britain) + tap (from Persian or Urdu تب (tab, “malarial fever”), ultimately from Sanskrit ताप (tāpa, “heat; fever”)). According to one suggestion, to go doolally tap was to go crazy while waiting.

Camp fever; by extension, madness, eccentricity.

Mrrhhhh, nothing wrong with me, sergeant, it's just the old Doolally Tap.1971, Brian Aldiss, A Soldier Erect:
'The Doolally tap,' my father would say, mysteriously, and McAllister would agree.1994, Maurice Hayes, Seamus Heaney, Sweet Killough: Let Go Your Anchor:

2 more examples

It would probably give Mrs Doughty an attack of the Doolally-tap.2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies:
'He's got the doolally-taps,' she'd heard Bob say when they mentioned him, and he usually rolled his eyes and tapped his temple when he said it even though he didn't speak unkindly.2009, Annie Murray, A Hopscotch Summer:

doolally tap

adj

UK Mad, insane, eccentric.

Going a bit doolally-tap, if you ask me. Getting odd ideas.1985, John E. Gardner, The Secret Generations, page 294:
The whole family think I've gone doolally-tap; all except Mick, that is.1993, Catherine Cookson, My Beloved Son, page 355:

3 more examples

Most thought that the prison sentence had sent me doolally tap.1994, Julia Grant, Just Julia: The Story of an Extraordinary Woman, page 198:
Madam has gone quite definitely doolally tap, if you'll pardon the rather common expression.1996, Erin Pizzey, Kisses, page 277:
If he had not paid her phone bills she would have gone doolally tap, as her mother used to say, without a friendly voice now and then.2007, Martina Cole, Faces, unnumbered page:

Derived terms: doolally