mad as a hatter

English

WOTD – 22 June 2007

Etymology

First recorded 1829. Of uncertain origin, though usually explained as referring to hat-makers suffering from Erethism due to handling mercury-contaminated felt. Derivation from Old English ātor (“poison”) or its descendant English atter lacks evidence.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌmæd æz ə ˈhætə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌmæd æz ə ˈhætɚ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Adjective

mad as a hatter (not comparable)

1. Crazy or demented.
   • 1857, [Thomas Hughes], chapter III, in Tom Brown’s School Days. […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC:

     He's a very good fellow, but as mad as a hatter. He's called Madman, you know. And never was such a fellow for getting all sorts of rum things about him. He tamed two snakes last half, and used to carry them about in his pocket; and I'll be bound he's got some hedgehogs and rats in his cupboard now, and no one knows what besides.

   • 1895, John Kendrick Bangs, chapter 7, in A House-Boat on the Styx:

     "I think he’d be as mad as a hatter at your insinuation that he would invite any of his wives, if all I hear of him is true; and what I’ve heard, Wolsey has told me."

   • 1904, Gilbert K[eith] Chesterton, “The Experiment of Mr. Buck”, in The Napoleon of Notting Hill, London; New York, N.Y.: John Lane, The Bodley Head, →OCLC, book III, page 176:

     I think Adam Wayne, who is as mad as a hatter, worth more than a million of you. But you have the force, and, I admit, the common sense, and he is lost.

   • 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Blurring of the Lines”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 31:

     Once Lord John passed across his newspaper, upon the margin of which he had written in pencil, "Poor devil! Mad as a hatter." No doubt it was very eccentric, and yet the performance struck me as extraordinarily clever and amusing.

   • 1920 October, Agatha Christie, “The Arrest”, in The Mysterious Affair at Styles […], New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, published March 1927, page 218:

     Sometimes, I feel sure he is as mad as a hatter; and then, just as he is at his maddest, I find there is method in his madness.

   • 1939, Agatha Christie, chapter 11, in And Then There Were None:

     If you ask me that woman's as mad as a hatter.

Synonyms

• disturbed, insane, loopy, nutty
• mad as a March hare
• See also Thesaurus:insane

Related terms

• hatter
• Mad Hatter

Translations

demented or crazy

• Dutch: stapelgek (nl)
• Finnish: pähkähullu (fi)
• Hungarian: sült bolond, teljesen bolond
• Icelandic: bandvitlaus
• Italian: fuori di testa, fuori come un balcone, matto da legare
• Russian: спя́тивший (ru) (spjátivšij), не в своём уме́ (ne v svojóm umé), вы́живший из ума́ (výživšij iz umá)
• Spanish: más loco que una cabra, como una chota