Haywires

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A disordered or chaotic situation that arises from malfunctioning or erratic components
2. A term used to describe something that is confused, disorganized, or not functioning as intended
3. Referring to circumstances that have become tangled or problematic, often due to incorrect connections or miscommunications

Etymology: The plural "haywires" is the form of "haywire," which in its noun sense means a state of chaos or disorder. The noun itself began as a physical object: in New England lumber camps around 1905, a "haywire outfit" was a slapdash collection of logging tools. Loggers and farmers had long used a soft, springy wire to bind hay bales, and the name for that wire gave the camps their term for makeshift, mismatched gear. The idea of falling apart came from the behaviour of that wire itself. Once a length of it was pulled off its factory spool, it sprang into an unmanageable tangle, so anything that broke down or ran out of control could be said to have "gone haywire." The word therefore moved from a bundle of tools to a state of disorder in a single step, with the image of tangled wire carrying the meaning across.

Synonyms: wires, twines, binders, fasteners, ropes