have bats in one's belfry
have bats in one's belfry verb: to be crazy or eccentric.
Verb
have bats in one's belfry (third-person singular simple present has bats in one's belfry, present participle having bats in one's belfry, simple past and past participle had bats in one's belfry)
- To be crazy or eccentric.
- Anyone declaring himself Emperor of San Francisco probably had bats in his belfry.
- You would certainly take the prize for bats in the belfry!--flying off on a wild-goose chase across a country where even the geese need a compass to keep to the course.1900, Mary Etta Stickney, Brown of Lost River, page 254
Forms of have bats in one's belfry
| third-person singular present | has bats in one's belfry |
|---|---|
| present participle | having bats in one's belfry |
| past participle | had bats in one's belfry |
| past | had bats in one's belfry |
| alternative form | have bats in the belfry |
Origin of have bats in one's belfry
1899, from tendency of bats to fly around erratically, with “belfry” indicating “head, mind”.
Words formed from have bats in one's belfry
Questions about have bats in one's belfry
- What does have bats in one's belfry mean?
- Have bats in one's belfry means to be crazy or eccentric.
- What part of speech is have bats in one's belfry?
- Have bats in one's belfry is a verb.
- What is the past tense of have bats in one's belfry?
- The past tense of have bats in one's belfry is had bats in one's belfry.
Words near have bats in one's belfry in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: have bats in one's belfry (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.
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Cite this entry: “have bats in one's belfry.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/have_bats_in_one%27s_belfry. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.