loony

Related to loony: looney, loony bin
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loonie

1. slang The Canadian one-dollar coin. (So called due to the picture of a loon, a kind of bird, on its front.) Primarily heard in Canada. The machine gave me a bunch of loonies as change for that twenty dollar bill. For only costing a loonie, this cup of coffee isn't half bad!
2. slang The Canadian dollar as a currency. Primarily heard in Canada. The strength of the loonie has continued to rise following the prime minister's announcement regarding the new trade agreement.

loony

1. adjective, slang Crazy, eccentric, foolish, or senseless. A glib adaptation of the word "lunatic." Also spelled "looney" or "loonie." I think everyone is feeling a little loony after being cooped up in the car for so long. My siblings all think I'm a bit loony because I practice alternative medicine.
2. noun, slang A crazy, eccentric, foolish, or senseless person. We can't have a loony like that as our governor! Am I the loony here, or has everyone else just lost their minds? Because this is the most harebrained scheme I've ever heard.

loony bin

slang A psychiatric hospital or insane asylum. From a glib adaptation of the word "lunatic," the phrase is now considered tactless at best, extremely insulting at worst. Back in my grandfather's time, anyone suffering from severe depression or anxiety would have just been thrown in the loony bin, so people suffered in silence and in secret. When she joked about putting someone like my brother in the loony bin, I threw my drink in her face and walked out of the restaurant.
See also: bin, loony
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

loony

and looney and loonie
1. n. a crazy person. (From lunatic.) I’m beginning to feel like a loonie the longer I stay around here.
2. mod. crazy. That is a loony idea. Forget it.
3. mod. alcohol intoxicated. She’s acting a little loonie. Let’s get her home before she’s sick.

loonie

verb
See loony

loony bin

n. an insane asylum; a mental hospital. Today’s loony bins are far different from those of just a few decades ago.
See also: bin, loony
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

loony bin

Insane asylum. The word “lunatic” comes from the word for “moon”; madness was associated in many cultures with the effect of the phases of the moon on the human mind. From lunatic came loony, and loony bin was where insane people were incarcerated. The phrase is now considered insulting in the extreme, as are “booby hatch” (originally a covered passageway down a ship deck), “funny farm,” “drool academy,” and “foam rubber city” (a reference to padded cells).
See also: bin, loony
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • looney
  • loonie
  • dollar for dollar
  • one’s bottom dollar
  • (one's) bottom dollar
  • toonie
  • simoleon
  • Two Bob
  • bet bottom dollar
  • bet one’s bottom dollar
References in periodicals archive
I can't believe how many loony people there are out here."
SKINNY DIP..FAT CHANCE; HUNDREDS TAKE PART IN NEW YEAR LOONY DOOK diet bet losing after plunge Iain takes swimmers. Joanne Jamieson, 31, from
The pub, once the Roebuck, has been painted in the Monster Raving Loony Party's official colours of yellow and black.
Sutch high hopes in craziest town
His career as a politician began in 1963, when he founded the Monster Raving Loony Party and in 1983 he became the longest serving leader of any political party.
Memory of Lord Sutch will scream on
Now Boney Maroney, as she's better known in Loony circles, will stand against Prime Minister Tony Blair in his Sedgefield constituency at the election.
loonies were there to help me through
And Loony candidates have taken council seats in Devon.
Man who put a smile on British politics; OBITUARY
Monster Raving Loony Party candidate Mad Cow-Girl said: "I may be a loony, but I'm not mad enough to want dangerous people walking free in the name of political correctness."
BY-ELECTION TURNS INTO LOONY FARCE; Top Tory's sole rival is a joker
Melodie will be there in her ever-present Loony colours of black, leopard print and yellow.
`A serious point: it's not just for laughs'
If we truly believe in free speech, then what is permissible in a crazy cleric has to be permissible in the loony Right.
Tony Parsons: Asylum lunacy has landed us Right in it
Having the euro as this state's common currency is their main aim, and if they have locked us in monetarily, all these loony ideas they keep coming up with will be not so much suggestions as enforced fact.
Your letters: EU sparks SOS for SCO
Screaming Lord Sutch, leader of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, has been found dead at his home, a party supporter said last night.
Lord Sutch found dead
TORY David Davis's bid to hold a by-election descended into farce last night when only the Monster Raving Loony Party confirmed they would stand against him.
Davis's Loony poll bid
Boney Maroney, The B.D.I Department of The Official Monster Raving Loony Party
Quick points
In fact I would rather vote for the Monster Raving Loony Party on the grounds that the loonies, the official ones anyway, have a at least a modicum of integrity.
Ron Mackenna Column: Ruling party is Jack to front; The REAL voice of Scottish politics
I'M getting very bored listening to the views of those left-wing loony liberals who reckon we should feel sorry for the hordes of Eastern European women who are using their babies as begging bait on our streets.
Carole Malone column: I'm beggared if I'll give them a single penny
For the first time, the Monster Raving Loony Party is not fielding candidates because it could not afford the pounds 5,000 deposit.
Parties look to Europe on sad day for Loonies