8 Wintry Words to Defrost Your Vocabulary

basket case

noun, Slang.
Offensive. a person who has had all four limbs amputated.
anything that is impaired or incapable of functioning:
Right after the war the conquered nation was considered an economic basket case.
Usage note
In the sense of “an amputee,” this term is perceived as insulting. It is military slang dating from World War I. Basket cases were soldiers who had lost all of their limbs and could not be safely carried on stretchers, though these types of casualties were probably very rare. At that time, a basket case was a wicker basket used to carry linens or other dry goods. Unabridged
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British Dictionary definitions for basket-case

basket case

noun (slang)
a person who is suffering from extreme nervous strain; nervous wreck
(mainly US & Canadian, taboo) a person who has had both arms and both legs amputated
  1. someone or something that is incapable of functioning normally
  2. (as modifier): a basket-case economy
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for basket-case

basket case



Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang definitions & phrases for basket-case

basket case

noun phrase
  1. A helpless, hopeless, distraught person: If I worried after a decision I'd be a basket case
  2. Anything ruined and hopeless: Those are only the best-known corporate basket cases/ the reconstitution of the East Wing as an autonomous nation and international basket case

[1960s+; fr a 1919 term describing a person, usu a wounded soldier, without either arms or legs, who needed to be carried in a basket; use revived in 1939 by Dalton Trumbo's novel Johnny Got His Gun]

Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.
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Idioms and Phrases with basket-case

basket case

A person or thing too impaired to function. For example, The stress of moving twice in one year left her a basket case, or The republics of the former Soviet Union are economic basket cases. Originating in World War I for a soldier who had lost all four limbs in combat and consequently had to be carried in a litter (“basket”), this term was then transferred to an emotionally or mentally unstable person and later to anything that failed to function. [ ; second half of 1900s ]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
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