arse over tit

English

Pronunciation

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Adverb

arse over tit (not comparable)

1. (Australia, New Zealand, British, Ireland, idiomatic, vulgar) Tumbling; falling; upside-down, unstable or unbalanced.

   I missed the step and went arse over tit.

Usage notes

• Sometimes abbreviated and slightly sanitised as A over T

Quotations

• Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit / And when I woke up in my hospital bed / And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead. The Pogues’ version of "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" by Eric Bogle (1972). In the original, the phrase is arse over head.

Synonyms

• arse over tip
• base over apex
• head over heels

See also

• topsy-turvy

Anagrams

• restorative