Crossword clues for doolally
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
doolally
"insane, eccentric," British slang, by 1917 in the armed services and in full doolally tap (with Urdu word for "fever"), from Deolali, near Bombay, India, which was a military camp (established 1861) with a large barracks and a chief staging point for British troops on their way to or from India; the reference is to men whose enlistments had expired who waited there impatiently for transport home.
Wiktionary
doolally
a. (context chiefly UK English) insane, mad or eccentric.
Wikipedia
Doolally
Doolally or Dolally may refer to:
-
Deolali, India, former site of a British Army transit camp
- The Deolali transit camp itself
- "Doolally", originally "doolally tap", meaning to 'lose one′s mind', derived from the boredom felt at the Deolali British Army transit camp. 'Tap' may be derived from the Sanskrit word 'tapa' meaning 'heat' or 'fever'
- The former name of Shanks & Bigfoot, a British dance-music duo
Usage examples of "doolally".
The police took details, a description, and a photograph, and were mildly reassuring, reminding him that people often went a bit doolally around Christmastime, it was well known.