# doolally tap

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. Camp fever; by extension, madness, eccentricity.

## Etymology
From Deolali (the name of a former British army camp 100 miles north-east of Bombay, used as a transit station for soldiers awaiting transport back to Britain) + tap (from Persian or Urdu تب (tab, “malarial fever”), ultimately from Sanskrit ताप (tāpa, “heat; fever”)).
According to one suggestion, to go doolally tap was to go crazy while waiting.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/doolally-tap