what is the meaning of "haywire"?

Answer 1

To stop working correctly or become out of control

Answer 2

You REALLY want to know? Here's a direct quote from my source link!

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Sproinggg.


Dear Word Detective: Recently I was talking to a friend and I used the phrase "went haywire" to describe something that had gone amuck. Anyway, the way I see it is that when you cut the bailing wire that holds bales of hay together, the wire sort of springs everywhere and goes out of control. So what do you think? Am I barking up the right tree? -- Bill Null, Tucson, AZ.

Well, maybe not quite the right tree, but you're definitely in the right neck of the woods. The "haywire" involved is indeed the light, springy wire used to bale hay. But as confusing as a tangle of haywire must be, that's not the primary source of the phrase.

The term "haywire" used in a figurative sense originally meant "poorly equipped or makeshift" and apparently first appeared in the logging camps of 19th century New England. Much of the heavy work in such camps was done by horses, and where you have horses, you have hay (or you have very hungry horses). It didn't take resourceful loggers long to realize that the wire with which the hay was baled could also be used for simple repairs to machinery and the like. But while clever use of haywire as a stopgap measure was admired in moderation, a camp that habitually relied on equipment held together in this makeshift fashion came to be known among loggers as a "haywire outfit," a poorly-equipped, inefficient operation.

By the early 20th century, this sense of "haywire" had come to be applied to just about any sort of business or operation that was poorly organized, slipshod or not working up to snuff. With the growth of technology the propensity of machinery, from automobiles to radios, to suddenly malfunction or cease working entirely led to the expansion of "haywire" to mean "to get mixed up, malfunction or become hopelessly confused" by about 1929. And since machinery isn't the only thing that can have a bad day, "haywire" was also soon applied to people who became mentally unbalanced.

Lastly, the propensity of haywire to, as you note, "spring everywhere" and become tangled when a hay bale is cut open almost certainly contributed to the modern use of "haywire" to mean "confused or malfunctioning."
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...Mmm, internets!

Answer 3

Definitions of haywire on the Web:

balmy: informal or slang terms for mentally irregular; "it used to drive my husband balmy"
wire for tying up bales of hay
amiss(p): not functioning properly; "something is amiss"; "has gone completely haywire"; "something is wrong with the engine"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Haywire is a Canadian AOR/hard rock band.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haywire

Answer 4

Haywire is a Canadian AOR/hard rock band originally from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Answer 5

Meaning Of Heywire

Answer 6

Haywire (electronic), an electronic/slang term referring to something that is not functioning properly

Answer 7

when used in the following form: "Sally went haywire.",
It is interpreted as "going crazy or out of control."

Answer 8

Out of control

Answer 9

simple: it means mixed up or tangled up with no hope of it being sorted soon.

imagine a bundle of hay; messy hey, now imagine the hay as wire(s), you can already relate cant you?