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.

   • 2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation‎, archived from the original on 22 May 2024:

     Zevala was ablaze, and all the insurgents — as they called themselves — were scurrying about like chickens with their heads cut off. There was talk of an attack. A second invading force. Perhaps the Foundation. Perhaps something worse.

     That something worse had every intention of worsening further still. There were many, many more things to burn before she and her sister were alone on the cliffside.

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