barmy
/ˈbɑːmi/US/ˈbɑɹmi/
barmy adjective: containing, covered with, or pertaining to barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, used as leaven in brewing and making bread”). Also the plural of barma.
Adjective (1)
barmy (comparative barmier, superlative barmiest)
- Containing, covered with, or pertaining to barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, used as leaven in brewing and making bread”).
- [T]each thy Incubus to Poëtize, / And throvve abroad thy ſpurious Snotteries, / Vpon that puft-vp Lumpe of Barmy froth, […]1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act V, scene iii, signature L4, recto
- Their jovial Nights, in frollicks and in play / They paſs, to drive the tedious Hours avvay. / And their cold Stomachs vvith crovvn'd Goblets cheer, / Of vvindy Cider, and of barmy Beer.1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 113, lines...
- Bubbling with activity or excitement; active, excited.
- Just now I've taen the fit o' rhyme, / My barmie noddle's working prime, […]1786, Robert Burns, “To J. S****”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, volume I, Kilmarnock, Scotland: […] John Wilson, →OCLC; reprinted Kilmarnock, Scotland: […] James M‘Kie, 1867, →OCLC...
Adjective (2)
barmy (comparative barmier, superlative barmiest)
- Crazy, mad; also, eccentric, odd, strange.
- [T]he exercise yard of the "barmy fellows," as he called the madmen, (meaning, I suppose, that their brains were in an unnatural state of working,) was but a stone's throw from himself and his rational companions, […]1872, Mrs. Edward Millet [i.e., Janet Millett], chapter XIV, in An Australian Parsonage; or, The Settler and the Savage in Western Australia, London: Edward Stanford, […], →OCLC, page 330
- "Bli'me if I know wot yer all talkin' abaht. You're all barmy on the crumpet," said Liza indignantly, and, turning her back on them, made for home.1897, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 9, in Liza of Lambeth, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published [1921], →OCLC, page 142
- Antonyms:
- average, medial, basic, bog-standard, common, commonplace, common-and-garden, common-or-garden, congruent, consistent
- Very foolish.
- Synonyms:
- balmy, asinine, bedaft, loony, daft, derpy, dim-headed, dim-witted, dopey, dull-headed
- Antonyms:
- astute, clairvoyant, deep, frood, grounded, judicious, oracular, perspicacious, politic, profound
Noun
barmy (plural barmies)
Also used as
barmy is also the plural of barma.
Examples of barmy in a sentence
- After about 24 hours the fermentation has created a thick head of barmy foam […]1997, Margriet S. Westerterp-Plantenga, Anne Algers, Chris K. Leach, editors, Food in Europe: Food Production, Processing and Consumption...
- He opted for a quieter bar to “watch it and enjoy the atmosphere” and engage in “sensible drinking, not going barmy”.2024 July 14, Rachel Hall, quoting Robert Shaw, “‘I’ve never seen owt like it’: England fans in Benidorm in high spirits before Euro...
Synonyms of barmy
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
- average
- medial
- basic
- bog-standard
- common
- commonplace
- common-and-garden
- common-or-garden
- congruent
- consistent
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of barmy
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | barmier |
| superlative | barmiest |
| Noun | |
| plural | barmies |
| alternative form | barmi |
| alternative form | barmie |
Origin of barmy
From barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, and used as leaven”) + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives). Barm is derived from Middle English berm, berme (“foam rising upon ale or beer fermenting; leaven, yeast; foam or head of beer produced by pouring”) [and other forms], from Old English beorma (“foam or head of beer; leaven, yeast”), from Proto-West Germanic *bermō (“barm; yeast”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁- (“to boil; to brew”) or *gʷʰer- (“warm; hot”).
Probably an alteration of balmy (“foolish; slightly crazy or mad, eccentric”), influenced by barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, and used as leaven”) (see etymology 1).
Borrowed from Russian бармы (barmy).
Words formed from barmy
Words that rhyme with barmy
Questions about barmy
- What does barmy mean?
- Barmy means containing, covered with, or pertaining to barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, used as leaven in brewing and making bread”).
- How do you use barmy in a sentence?
- After about 24 hours the fermentation has created a thick head of barmy foam […]
- What part of speech is barmy?
- Barmy can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce barmy?
- Barmy is pronounced /ˈbɑːmi/ (UK).
Words near barmy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: barmy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-barmy.wav.
Cite this entry: “barmy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/barmy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.