doolally

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doolally

/duːˈlæli/ UK
/duˈlæli/ US

Rhymes with -æli

Where it comes from

From doolally tap (“camp fever; (by extension) eccentricity; madness”), with doolally interpreted as an adjective. Doolally is derived from the Deolali transit camp, a former British army camp about 100 miles (160 kilometres) northeast of Bombay, India, used as a transit station for soldiers awaiting transport back to Britain; while tap (“Indian malarial fever”) is from Persian or Urdu تب (tab, “malarial fever”), ultimately from Sanskrit ताप (tāpa, “fever; heat; pain, torment”).

adjective more doolally · most doolally

Ireland, UK, slang Eccentric; insane, mad. "Will you write me an Essay on Corsets?" / "On what?" I asked incredulously—knowing that he had been a distinguished soldier, and suspecting that he had suddenly developed what the soldiers describe as "a touch of the doolally."
Similar: doolally tap, 5150, bananas, barking, barking mad, fey, buggish, buggy, bughouse, barmy, batchy, batpoop
Ireland, UK, broadly, slang Carried away by enjoyment, excitement, etc. You are there to entertain. Education is something we like doing. That's not actually the biggest thing on the night, when people are queuing to get in and paying their money. They want to go doolally to their favourite records.

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MLA

"doolally." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/doolally. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

doolally. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/doolally

Chicago

"doolally." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/doolally.

BibTeX

@misc{doolally_2026,
  title = {doolally},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/doolally},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}