topsy-turvy

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See also: topsyturvy and topsy turvy

English[edit]

WOTD – 4 January 2021

Etymology[edit]

The origin of the adverb and adjective are uncertain. Topsy is probably derived from top or tops though this does not explain the -sy ending; it has been suggested that the latter comes from so (thus, top so) or from top-set or top-side, modified to match the -y ending of turvy. The term topside-turvy is mentioned in the Anglo-Irish writer Laurence Sterne’s novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759–1767).Turvy is probably derived from terve, turve (“to be thrown down; to fall; to dash down; to cast, throw; to turn back or down; to fold or roll over”) (obsolete)[1] +‎ -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of; inclined to’), with turve inherited from Middle English terven (“to throw (something) down; to throw (something) into confusion; to level; to resort or turn (to something); to go, move; to turn; to collapse, fall”) […], perhaps from Old English *tierfan (compare Old English tearflian (“to roll over, wallow”))[2] or from Old English torfian (“to launch, throw; to shoot missiles at; to stone; to be tossed”), from Proto-Germanic *turbōną (“to fling, hurl”), *turbijaną (“to turn, twist”) (whence Old English ġetyrfian (“to assail with missiles; to assault, attack”)), from Proto-Indo-European *derbʰ- (“to spin, twist”). Thus, the term as a whole may literally mean “having the top side thrown or turned down”.

The noun and verb are probably derived from the adverb and adjective.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adverb[edit]

topsy-turvy (comparative more topsy-turvy, superlative most topsy-turvy)

  1. Backwards or upside down; also, having been overturned or upset.
    Synonyms: inverted, reversed; see also Thesaurus:upside down
  2. (figurative) Not in the natural order of things; in a disorderly manner; chaotically.
    • 1576, T[homas] R[ogers], “Of Loue”, in A Philosophicall Discourse, Entituled, The Anatomie of the Minde. […], London: […] I[ohn] C[harlewood] for Andrew Maunsell, […], →OCLC, folio 22, recto:
      Diuilliſh it is to deſtroy a cittie, but more then diuilliſhe, to euert citties, to betraye countreies, to cause ſeruaunts to kyll their maiſters, parentes theyr children, children their parentes, wiues their huſbandes, and to turne all things topſy turuy, and yet it doth ſo, as ſhalbe declared.

Alternative forms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

topsy-turvy (comparative topsy-turvier, superlative topsy-turviest)

  1. Backwards or upside down.
    Synonyms: inverted, reversed
  2. (figurative) Chaotic; disorderly.
    • 1675, William Penn, “The Ground or Reason of Swearing”, in A Treatise of Oaths, Containing Several Weighty Reasons why the People Call’d Quakers Refuse to Swear: […], [London]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 10:
      [John] Chrysostom saith, An Oath came in when Evils increased, when men appeared unfaithful, when all things became Topsy Turvy.
    • [1872, [William] Wilkie Collins, “Lucilla’s Journal, Concluded”, in Poor Miss Finch. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley and Son, →OCLC, 2nd part, page 160:
      You have not kept her comfortable-easy. Something has turned her poor little mind topsy-turvies.]
    • 2020 June 3, Stefanie Foster, “Comment: The Recovery Starts here”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3:
      It feels like I've stepped through the looking glass and am wandering in a topsy-turvy world where the fixpoints we have lived with for decades have gone. Not just moved … gone.

Alternative forms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

topsy-turvy (countable and uncountable, plural topsy-turvies)

  1. (countable) An act of turning something backwards or upside down, or the situation that something is in after this has happened.
    • 1850, [Warren Burton], “Augustus Starr, the Privateer who Turned Pedagogue—His New Crew Mutiny, and Perform a Singular Exploit”, in The District School as It Was. […], revised edition, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson and Company, […], →OCLC, page 159:
      Perhaps he was at a loss for the points of compass, as is often the case in tumbles and topsy-turvies.
  2. (countable, figurative) A situation where the natural order of things has been upset.
    • 1849, C[alvin] H[enderson] Wiley, “Boyish Conversation”, in Roanoke; or, “Where is Utopia?” […], Philadelphia, Pa.: T. B. Peterson & Brothers, […], published 1866, →OCLC, pages 110–111:
      [I ...] has seed a heap of scatterments and topsyturvies: here's hoping dat you all may swim smoofly along the briny waves of sacrificin' time, and ford the Jordan of destructive equinoxes, while fiery billows roll beneath!
    • 2006, Sue Robson, “Language, Communication and Thought”, in Developing Thinking and Understanding in Young Children: An Introduction for Students, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 114:
      The best-known examples of children’s nonsense language play, and their ‘topsy turvies’, or inversion of reality, are in Chukovsky, who asserts that such topsy turvies ‘strengthen (not weaken) the child’s awareness of reality’ [...].
  3. (uncountable, figurative) Chaos, confusion, disorder.

Translations[edit]

chaos, confusion, disorder — see chaos,‎ confusion,‎ disorder

Verb[edit]

topsy-turvy (third-person singular simple present topsy-turvies or topsy-turvys, present participle topsy-turvying, simple past and past participle topsy-turvied or topsy-turvyed)

  1. (transitive) To turn topsy-turvy or upside down; to invert.
    • 1859 July, “Art. IX.—1. Adam Bede. By George Eliot. 3 vols. 1859. 2. Scenes of Clerical Life. By George Eliot. 2 vols. 1858. [book review]”, in The Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal, volume CX, number CCXXIII, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts; Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, →OCLC, page 241:
      Mr. [George] Eliot's descriptions of scenery are perfect: [...] and so are his descriptions of children. [...] We forbear (though with regret) the introduction to our readers of Totty's bald doll, ignominously ‘topsy turvied’ by her insulting brother.
    • 2017, Jai Krishna, “High-resolution Intrabasinal to Inter-regional Geodynamic Chronicle during the Span of the Intra-Permian–Intra-Paleogene Mega-sequence in and around India on the GTM”, in The Indian Mesozoic Chronicle: Sequence Stratigraphic Approach (Springer Geology), Singapore: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 586:
      The already lithified/hardened late Early/early Middle Oxfordian chunks/slabs of the oolitic limestones fragmented and rotated, even topsy-turvied upside down in the repetitive violent/explosive shake ups.
  2. (transitive, figurative) To throw into chaos or disorder; to upset.
    • [1854], G[eorge] E[liel] Sargent, “How the Legacy Went. In Two Chapters.”, in Moralities for Home, London: Groombridge and Sons. […], →OCLC, chapter II (How It Departed), page 148:
      [...] Mrs. Sykes said, ‘her man was the wust she ever knowed when he got topsy-turveyed.’ And as now, he began to get topsy-turveyed pretty regularly before he had finished his daily business with the retiring host of the Holly Bush, there was not much peace at home.
    • 1858 July–December, J. A., “Prose versus Verse”, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée; a Magazine of Literature and Fashion, […], volume XLIX, London: Rogerson and Tuxford, […], →OCLC, page 188, column 1:
      Has not a diluent expletive been interjected to fill up a line? has not a plain proposition been topsy-turvied, till subject and object are miserably confused, because of accent?
    • 1865, Thomas Carlyle, “The Campaign Opens”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume V, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book XVIII, page 16:
      It is one among their many greater advantages from this surprisal of the enemy, and sudden topsy-turvying of his plans.
    • 1892, M[aurice] O’Connor Morris, “Introduction”, in Memini: Or Reminiscences of Irish Life, London: Harrison & Sons, […], →OCLC, page ix:
      [M]y literary life was rather topsy-turveyed by a couple of untoward accidents last year, and a prostrating attack of influenza, and bronchitis subsequently, for the cure of which I am indebted to the climate of Portugal, [...]
    • 2007, “Portrayal of Diaspora Experiences”, in Basavaraj Naikar, editor, Indian English Literature, volume II, New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, →ISBN, page 195:
      Being from a lower caste, she earns her meager livelihood by cleaning the stairs and guarding the locality (the conventional roles are topsy turvyed).

Alternative forms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

to turn topsy-turvy or upside down — see invert
to throw into chaos or disorder — see upset

References[edit]

  1. ^ Compare “topsy-turvy, adv., adj., n., and v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1913; “topsy-turvy, adv., adj., and n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “terven, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Further reading[edit]

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