squirrelly

English

Alternative forms

• squirrely

Etymology

From squirrel +‎ -ly, 1925. Presumably from erratic movement of squirrels, or by analogy with nuts (“insane”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈskwɝli/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈskwɪɹəli/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)li, -ɪɹəli

Adjective

squirrelly (comparative squirrellier or more squirrelly, superlative squirrelliest or most squirrelly)

1. Resembling a squirrel.
2. (figurative) Unpredictable or jumpy.
   • 2001 April 13, “Rumsfeld Hits China's 'Aggressive' Pattern”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     "We got bumped. We got thumped," an American pilot was heard saying. A U.S. pilot also reported that a Chinese plane was "squirrely. Not real steady."

   • 2021 June 21, Charles Bramesco, “‘So, does it hold up?’: Fargo’s stars and co-creator on its 25th anniversary”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Buscemi relished the chance to portray the squirrelly, volatile crook Carl Showalter, a figure that came together only once the actor got dressed.

   • 2023 September 5, Elif Batuman, “Proust, ChatGPT and the case of the forgotten quote”, in The Guardian‎^[3], →ISSN:

     I wonder why it didn’t give me a direct quote. I hope it isn’t going to be squirrelly or weird about quotes. Maybe it’s stressed out about copyrighted translations. I’ll try asking for the original.

3. Eccentric.
   • 1998, Cory Doctorow, Craphound‎^[4]:

     Craphound had wicked yard-sale karma, for a rotten, filthy alien bastard. He was too good at panning out the single grain of gold in a raging river of uselessness for me not to like him — respect him, anyway. But then he found the cowboy trunk. It was two months' rent to me and nothing but some squirrelly alien kitsch-fetish to Craphound.

   • 2010 May 5, Jeffrey Goldberg, quoting Robert Dreyfuss, “The Meaning of Faisal 'Rorschach' Shahzad”, in The Atlantic‎^[5]:

     Dreyfuss wrote that "it seems far more likely to me that the perpetrator of the bungled Times Square bomb plot was either a lone nut job or a member of some squirrely branch of the Tea Party, anti-government far right. […] ."

See also

• batty
• nuts
• nutty
• See also Thesaurus:insane

References

• OED 2nd edition 1989