A person who is batshit crazy is certifiably nuts. The phrase has origins in the old fashioned term "bats in the belfry." Old churches had a structure at the top called a belfry, which housed the bells. Bats are extremely sensitive to sound and would never inhabit a belfry of an active church where the bell was rung frequently. Occasionally, when a church was abandoned and many years passed without the bell being rung, bats would eventually come and inhabit the belfry. So, when somebody said that an individual had "bats in the belfry" it meant that there was "nothing going on upstairs" (as in that person's brain). To be BATSHIT CRAZY is to take this even a step further. A person who is batshit crazy is so nuts that not only is their belfry full of bats, but so many bats have been there for so long that the belfry is coated in batshit. Hence, the craziest of crazy people are BATSHIT CRAZY.

adj. (slang): A combined state of mental agitation and physical volatility. It's use may provide warning that the individual it describes has lost all self-control and cannot be reasoned with. Can refer to either a chronic or temporary condition.

A clinically insane person beyond the regular diagnosis given to them by a psychiatrist.

Acting in a generally insane manner; Tom Cruise.

adj. speech or behavior that is over the top, unhinged, self-destructive, or a threat to others.

Condition may be temporary (e.g. "Dad went all batshit crazy on me when he saw the cell phone bill") or prolonged ("Adolph Hitler was a batshit crazy megalomaniac responsible for the deaths of millions in 20th-century Europe.")

see batshit, batshit fucking insane

1. A synonym for Tom Cruise.

Crazy to a degree bordering on complete insanity. The state in which one makes decisions which make the exact opposite of sense.

See also: bat-shit