doolally
adjUK /duːˈlæli/ · US /duˈlæli/
Etymology From doolally tap (“camp fever; (by extension) eccentricity; madness”), with doolally interpreted as an adjective. Doolally is derived from the Deolali transit camp, a former British army camp about 100 miles (160 kilometres) northeast of Bombay, India, used as a transit station for soldiers awaiting transport back to Britain; while tap (“Indian malarial fever”) is from Persian or Urdu تب (tab, “malarial fever”), ultimately from Sanskrit ताप (tāpa, “fever; heat; pain, torment”).
- "Will you write me an Essay on Corsets?" / "On what?" I asked incredulously—knowing that he had been a distinguished soldier, and suspecting that he had suddenly developed what the soldiers describe as "a touch of the doolally."[1920, Richard King [pseudonym; Richard King Huskinson], “How I Came to Make ‘History’!”, in Over the Fireside with Silent Friends, London: John Lane, The Bodley Head; New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, published 1921, →OCLC, page 149:
- "When you've got any God's amount of brains," said Frobisher, "you can pretend to be doolally;[…]"1932, James Lansdale Hodson, chapter II, in North Wind, London: Faber and Faber […], →OCLC, page 26:
4 more examples
- Doolally tap. It's the strain see – and it gets the doolally lads first.1965, New English Dramatists (Penguin Plays), number 8, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, →OCLC, page 40:
- They were all doolally of course, except Philomela.1973, Maureen Duffy, chapter II, in I Want to Go to Moscow: A Lay, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN, page 61:
- [H]e took three sleeping-pills in the night, so he says, and he's all doped and doolally now. I need your help to move him.1993, Blake Morrison, “Foetal”, in And When Did You Last See Your Father?, London: Granta Books in association with Penguin Books, published 1994, →ISBN, page 66:
- "Now you're being silly. Promise you'll put me in a home when I get really doolally." / "If you're really doolally you won't know if I have or not." / "So promise."2000, Patrick Gale, “Blue House”, in Rough Music, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published May 2001, →ISBN, page 54:
- You are there to entertain. Education is something we like doing. That's not actually the biggest thing on the night, when people are queuing to get in and paying their money. They want to go doolally to their favourite records.1999 May 13, Bill Brewster, Frank Broughton, quoting Pete Tong, “Pete Tong: Essential Selector: Interviewed by Bill and Frank in London, May 13, 1999”, in The Record Players: The Story of Dance Music Told by History’s Greatest DJs, London: Virgin Books, published 2012, →ISBN, page 424:
- 'I've never had a pet before,' Darkus gazed happily at Baxter [a beetle]. 'Thank you.' / 'That's all right, lad.' Uncle Max threw his hands up in defeat. 'I can hardly say no, when I know Barty would say yes.' / Darkus looked up, surprised. 'He would?' / 'Of course! A handsome hexapod like this? He'd be doolally about it!'2016, M. G. Leonard [pseudonym; Maya Gabrielle], “The Entomology Vaults”, in Beetle Boy, Frome, Somerset: Chicken House, →ISBN, page 49:
1 more example
- Australia went doolally for the visit: the Queen [Elizabeth II] waved away flies in 57 towns over 58 days; inspected an endless row of sheeps' arses in Wagga; ate Australia-shaped sandwiches with Vegemite borders at a reception in Rockhampton; and said hello to a bedridden woman in Hobart who was trundled four miles for the meeting.2021, Kaz Cooke, “Sit Down & Shoosh”, in You’re Doing It Wrong: A History of Bad & Bonkers Advice to Women, [Hawthorn, Vic.]: Viking, →ISBN, page 35: