banjax

banjax

English

Alternative forms

• banjack
• bandjax

Etymology

Unknown, perhaps originally Dublin slang.[1] According to Green’s Dictionary of Slang, may be a euphemism for ballocks.[2]

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈbæn.d͡ʒæks/, /bænˈd͡ʒæks/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æks

Verb

banjax (third-person singular simple present banjaxes, present participle banjaxing, simple past and past participle banjaxed)

1. (Britain, originally Ireland, slang) To ruin or destroy.
   • 1922, Darrell Figgis, The House of Success, The Gael Co-operative Publishing Society, Ltd., page 146:

     I hoofed his backside till he went down all of a heap. That banjaxed his little game. You should have heard his hullabulloo.

   • 1928, Eimar O'Duffy, The Spacious Adventures of the Man in the Street, Macmillan, page 370:

     Indeed, it seemed that the army was hopelessly banjaxed.

   • 1970, Edna O'Brien, A Pagan Place, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, published 2001, page 91:

     Emma had suggested that you hide, said your presence might banjax her position.

   • 2006, Craig Ferguson, Between the Bridge and the River, Chronicle Books, page 252:

     Fraser was looking at the flat, wet countryside and thinking about the French policeman who had banjaxed him with the truncheon.

   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:banjax.

Translations

To ruin or destroy

French: ruiner (fr), détruire (fr) German: ruinieren (de), zerstören (de) Italian: rovinare (it), distruggere (it) Tok Pisin: bagarapim

Noun

banjax (plural banjaxes)

1. (chiefly Ireland, informal) A mess or undesirable situation made as a result of incompetence.
   • 1922, Seán O'Casey, Juno and the Paycock:

     I'm tellin' you the scholar, Bentham, made a banjax o' th' Will.

References

1. Oxford English Dictionary, 2013.
2. Jonathon Green (2023), “banjax”, in Green's Dictionary of Slang