psyched

1. 1
   adjectiveslang

   Thrilled or excited about something.

   I'm so psyched for the concert tonight!

   The whole team was psyched about making the playoffs for the first time.

   Similarstoked, jazzed

   Note

   This is friendly slang: natural among friends, out of place in a formal report. It takes about, for or a to-infinitive (psyched about the trip, psyched for the concert, psyched to start), and psyched up, stoked and jazzed sit in the same casual register. The same spelling can also mean frightened or rattled, so the rest of the sentence has to make the feeling clear.

2. 2
   verbcolloquial

   Past tense and past participle of psych.

   She psyched herself up with loud music before the final race.

   The pitcher psyched out the batter with a long, silent stare.

   Note

   The small adverb after the verb decides its meaning: psyched up means made ready in mind for a task, while psyched out means unsettled or intimidated, so the two phrases point in opposite directions. Both are colloquial. The form is regular, one spelling for the simple past and the past participle, and the participle hardens into the excited adjective and the frightened adjective.

3. 3
   adjectiveslang

   Frightened or unnerved.

   The horror movie left the whole group psyched and jumping at every shadow.

   One look at the icy ledge and she was too psyched to climb any farther.

   Similarspooked, unnerved, scared

   Note

   Its fuller form, psyched out, says the same thing, and both lean on the verb psych out, to unsettle someone through psychological tactics. The fear works on the mind more than the body: a horror film, or one look at an icy ledge, can leave someone too psyched to carry on. Like the excited meaning, it belongs to casual talk.

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