crackbrained

adj

Etymology

From crack + brained. The word is centuries old, and the original imagery is of a brain that is cracked (broken), but the advent of crack cocaine produced a new surface analysis whereby the word now also suggests a crack(rock)-addled brain. But even with that difference in referents, cognation is involved regardless.

  1. suffixed as brained — “brain + ed
  2. compounded as crackbrained — “crack + brained

Definitions

  1. Idiotic.

    • In order to ſet ſo hopeful a Genius right in this matter, vve have ſent you an anſvver to the ill-grounded Sophiſms of thoſe crack brain'd fellovvs, and likevviſe an eaſy mechanical explication of Perception or Thinking.
    • By degrees, Jean Paul began to be considered not a strange, crackbrained mixture of enthusiast and buffoon, but a man of infinite humour, sensibility, force, and penetration.
    • Could it be, after all, that the whole story was true, and the writing on the sherd was not a forgery, or the invention of some crack-brained, long-forgotten individual?

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for crackbrained. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA