Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Somewhat unbalanced mentally; touched.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective colloquial Touched: mildly deranged, somewhat mentally dysfunctional.
  • adjective colloquial Touched: physically contacted, impacted, or handled.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration (influenced by obsolete tached, of a given disposition) of touched.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Variant of touched.

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Examples

  • Maybe if we acted more like the NRA of the 40's and 50's we'd triple our membership but as of now, the majority of gun owners think the NRA leadership is tetched.

    Palin gives 'stirring' gun rights speech at NRA dinner, says group

  • Melvyn Douglas plays the guardian of Patricia Gozzi, who is a bit tetched in the head who becomes involved with Dean Stockwell.

    At the Beach

  • I remember a George Carlin bit that had a bunch of alternative terms for “tetched in the head”, of which my favorite was “a few Senators short of a quorum.”

    I Hate Applescript, I Need Help

  • Because there is no compromise with someone as tetched to wear virginity panties.

    THE NEWS BLOG

  • DeBeck was also responsible for popularizing the expression “tetched in the haid.”

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time

  • DeBeck was also responsible for popularizing the expression “tetched in the haid.”

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time

  • It also sounds similar to the U.S. colloquial tetched "touched" in the head, in the sense of being mildly unstable or mentally handicapped.

    languagehat.com: TITCHY.

  • The world's Platts have always looked on reformers as political aberrations to be scorned as "bleeding hearts" and "do-gooders" out of touch with reality, if not actually tetched in the head, and therefore dangerous to political stability.

    The Performer

  • All kinds of valuables, they say — back in the 1920s — just before he died, when he was a little tetched in the head.

    The Cat Who Went Underground

  • She looked at me as if I might be a little tetched myself.

    Hoodwink

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  • Usage notes:

    1983 C. MCCARRY Last Supper III. vi. 333 These people are tetched in the head.

    1984 S. BELLOW Him with his Foot in his Mouth 39 If she had been a little tetched before, melodramatic, in her fifties she seemed to become crazed.

    January 31, 2007