loony bin
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈluːni bɪn/
- Slur
:
manicomio
- Then, in a loud whisper, he said to Miranda, "What loony bin did you spring him from?"
I mean she'd actually been in a loony bin previously before but didn't think it was worth letting me know.
- I mean she'd actually been in a loony bin previously before but didn't think it was worth letting me know.
Examples
-
He often said that his family gatherings felt like a loony bin with all the loud arguments and laughter.
-
This place is worse than any loony bin.
-
This is a loony bin.
-
It's basically a loony bin.
Blog text (28) -
I heard you got sacked and thrown into a loony bin.
-
How are you going to get into the loony bin unless they think you're loony?
Fiction book (1995) -
After the chaotic party, I joked that we should all be sent to the loony bin for our wild behavior.
-
She described her last job as a loony bin because of the bizarre antics the staff would get up to every day.
Synonyms
3
4.8
A chaotic, confusing situation like the strange rooms in a fair attraction
How Chaotic
- Offensive
26
8.0
- Slur
1
9.9
- Archaic
38
2.8
∞
1.0
964
2.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
loony + bin
The adjective 'loony' clearly denotes mentally unsound people and 'bin' evokes a container/place, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer this is a slang, derogatory label for a place holding 'loony' people (i.e. a mental hospital). The mapping from a literal container to an institutional place is metaphorical and informal, so the precise institutional sense and connotations require some cultural/pragmatic knowledge and are not fully predictable.
Etymology
Loony bin is also used to describe a place that feels wild or chaotic, like a noisy house or busy office. People compare a busy, noisy place to a 'place' for the crazy, so the phrase can mean 'wild or chaotic'.