to have bats in the belfry
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To be crazy in the head, bats in this case being the nocturnal creatures.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to have bats in the belfry” mean?
To be crazy in the head, bats in this case being the nocturnal creatures.
Is “to have bats in the belfry” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.