Yahoo Web Search

Search results

1. Dictionary

   basket case

   /ˈbɑːskɪt ˌkeɪs/

   noun

   • 1. a person or thing regarded as useless or unable to cope: informal "do that for a couple of days and you become a blithering basket case"
   • ▪ a country or organization that is in severe financial or economic difficulties, especially one that is unable to pay its debts: informal "sudden meltdowns—such as the financial crisis—can turn flourishing countries into basket cases overnight"

   Word Origin First World War: originally US slang denoting a soldier who had lost all four limbs and was thus unable to move independently.

   Powered by Oxford Dictionaries

   More definitions, origin and scrabble points