daft — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Foolish, silly, stupid.

   Usage

   • Australia
   • Ireland
   • New-Zealand
   • UK usage
   • Informal

   Examples

   a daft idea

   Thou art the daftest fuill that ever I saw. / Trows thou, man, be the law to get remeid / Of men of kirk? Na, nocht till thou be deid.

   More examples (3)

   So that if a boor complains of a broken-head, or a beer-seller of a broken can, or a daft wench does but squeak loud enough to be heard above her breath, a soldier of honour shall be dragged, not before his own court-martial, who can best judge of and punish his demerits, but before a base mechanical burgo-master, who shall menace him with the rasp-house, the cord, and what not, as if he were one of their own mean, amphibious, twenty-breeched boors.

   In case you haven't heard of them [the Taipings], I must tell you that they were another of those incredible phenomena that made China the topsy-turvey mess it was, like some fantastic land from Gulliver, where everything was upside down and out of kilter. Talk about moonbeams from cucumbers; the Taipings were even dafter than that.

   You haven't exactly been playing the master tactician through all this, but that seems the daftest course you could possibly have taken.

2. Crazy, insane, mad.

   Usage

   • Australia
   • Ireland
   • New-Zealand
   • UK usage
   • Informal

   Examples

   More examples (3)

   "Ow, he is just a wood harum-scarum creature, that wad never take to his studies;—daft, sir, clean daft." / […] / "[W]owff—a wee bit by the East-Nook or sae; it's a common case—the ae half of the warld thinks t'other daft. I have met with folks in my day, that thought I was daft mysell;[…]" / "I cannot make out a word of his cursed brogue," said the Cumbrian justice; "can you, neighbour—eh? What can he mean by deft?" / "He means mad", said the party appealed to, thrown off his guard by impatience of this protracted discussion.

   The boy gathered himself up, shook his shaggy head, and, said, in a piteous tone: 'Davie's daft!' 'Davie's daft!' He then kicked the poor idiot till his cries attracted the attention of the guests, some of whom immediately came to the spot: […]

   ‘It’s a lee [lie],’ says the man; ‘she’s either drunk or daft.’ / ‘Me drunk, you ill-tongued vagabond!’ says my Auntie Kirsty, who couldna bear such a reproach on her good name, ‘I’m a’ but blackfasting this day from either meat or drink; you had better no meddle wi’ my character.’

3. Gentle, meek, mild.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   There's mirth in the barn and the ha', the ha', / There's mirth in the barn and the ha': / There's quaffing and laughing, / And dancing and daffing; / And our young bride's daftest of a', of a', / And our young bride's daftest of a'.

Adjective

1. informal or slang terms for mentally irregular

   Synonyms

   balmybarmybatsbattybonkersbuggycrackedcrackersdottyfruityhaywirekookykookielocoloonyloopynutsnuttyround the bendaround the bendwackywhacky

   Examples

   it used to drive my husband balmy