like a chicken with its head cut off

English

Alternative forms

• like a chicken with its head off
• like a chicken with no head
• like a headless chicken

Prepositional phrase

like a chicken with its head cut off

1. (informal) In a frantic, disorganized manner.
   • c. 1900, Jack London, To Build a Fire:

     His idea of it was that he had been making a fool of himself, running around like a chicken with its head cut off—such was the simile that occurred to him.

   • 1911, Zane Grey, chapter 9, in The Young Pitcher:

     Ken played or essayed to play right field for a while, but he ran around like a chicken with its head off.

   • 1920, Harold MacGrath, chapter 27, in The Drums Of Jeopardy:

     I've been running round like a chicken with its head cut off.

   • 1962 December 28, “Nation: New Fail-Safe”, in Time:

     Says one Pentagon arms-control expert: "Our setup was actually designed to act in time of general war like a chicken with its head cut off. The brain could be destroyed and the nervous system severed. Then the military muscles would just jerk in uncontrolled spasms."

   • 2003, Linda Lael Miller, Shotgun Bride, →ISBN, page 121:

     Rushing around like a chicken with its head cut off would serve no purpose.

Usage notes

• Often preceded by the verb run around.

Translations

in a frantic, disorganized manner

• Chinese: 像只没头苍蝇一样 (xiàng zhī méi tóu cāng ying yí yàng)
• Dutch: als een kip zonder kop
• Finnish: kuin päätön kana
• German: kopflos (de) (fig.)
• Greek: σαν την άδικη κατάρα (san tin ádiki katára)
• Polish: bez głowy (pl)
• Russian: как ку́рица с отру́бленной голово́й (kak kúrica s otrúblennoj golovój)
• Spanish: como pollo sin cabeza

See also

• like a chicken with the pip
• run around like a chicken with its head cut off