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Glite Dictionary
booby hatch

booby hatch

1 9.9
An insulting old-fashioned word for a hospital that cares for people with mental illness
  • noun
  • Slur
translation icon : manicomio
  • The barred-window boys are out looking for him now, and we'll see how Wall Street likes the news that the President of Hudsucker Industries is headed for the booby hatch.

Examples

  • Told me a story about how his wife, and her boyfriend, were plotting to hustle Mickey into the booby hatch and grab all his money.

    Inherent Vice (2014)

  • Well, you can put me in the booby hatch, too, because, so help me, I saw this ship turn a bright green up there.

    This Island Earth (1955)

  • This, like... booby hatch my parents keep sending me to.

    Inherent Vice (2014)

  • We'll see how Wall Street likes the news... ...that the president of Hudsucker is headed for the booby hatch.

    The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

  • Performance number 1,000 of this one, if I play it that long, will take place in a well-padded booby hatch.

    All About Eve (1950)

  • After his bizarre behavior, everyone joked that he might end up in a booby hatch.

  • In the movie, the main character was sent to a booby hatch for his outrageous antics.

  • Some people referred to it as a booby hatch, but it was actually an advanced mental health facility.

Synonyms

madhouse
vsbooby hatch
  • Offensive
26 8.0

A very noisy, chaotic place often used to describe a mental hospital or busy shop

is slang and more focused on mocking the institution itself
nuthouse
vsbooby hatch
  • Offensive
13 9.9

A rude informal word for a hospital for people with mental illness

is slang but often used jokingly rather than strongly offensive
Bedlam
vsbooby hatch
4 9.2

A noisy place where many people shout and act in a confused way

is slang for the institution itself and not the general chaos
sanatorium
vsbooby hatch
  • Offensive
1 9.9

A hospital where people with mental illness lived and got treatment in the past

is a slang, playful or mocking name rather than a formal medical term

Surface Forms

booby hatch singular
booby hatches plural

Morphology

booby + hatch

The meaning 'mental institution' is not predictably built from 'booby' (a foolish person) and 'hatch' (an opening or door), and the connection between those constituents and an asylum is idiomatic and historical rather than compositional. Because the phrase is slang, dated, and pejorative, a B1 learner who knows the parts would not reliably infer the overall meaning without prior exposure.

Etymology

Booby hatch may come from booby, an old word for 'a fool', and hatch, a small door or simple 'hutch'. Imagine a little building where foolish people were kept, and that image led to Booby hatch meaning 'a place for the mentally ill', often said jokingly or as an insult.