Nuthouse

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈnʌtˌhaʊs/

Definitions

1. A facility for the care and treatment of people with serious mental illnesses ; a slang term used to insult or describe someone considered mentally unstable or crazy
2. An institution where patients with mental disorders are admitted and treated ; an informal and offensive label for someone acting irrationally or crazily
3. A hospital dedicated to psychiatric care and support ; a derogatory expression for a person perceived as mentally disturbed or eccentric

Etymology: "Nuthouse" is a plain compound of "nut" and "house," and its literal sense is simply a house for people whose minds are unsound. The "nut" here is the slang sense of a head or skull, and by extension a mind, as in being "nuts" or "off one's nut," which is why the word has always been a blunt, somewhat mocking label rather than a clinical term. The "nut" slang for the head dates back centuries, and it carries the same sense in the compound: the building housed people whose heads were considered not quite right. Like many informal words for madness, the term was used in everyday speech more often than in medical writing, so its earliest uses tend to appear in popular and colloquial contexts. The word has two meanings today. It names a psychiatric hospital, and it works as an insult for someone seen as eccentric or mentally unstable. The second use is the more common one in conversation, where it is usually said casually or jokingly.

Synonyms: asylum, sanatorium, mental institution

Antonyms: sanity, normalcy