topsy-turvy
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌtɒpsɪˈtəːvi/
ipa: /ˌtɑpsiˈtɚvi/
Forms: form: topsy-turvier
form: topsy-turviest
form: topsy-turvey
form: topsyturvy
form: topsy turvy
Etymology: 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 a rare (scarcely attested) obsolete English word terve, turve (“to be thrown down; to fall; to dash down; to cast, throw; to turn back or down; to fold or roll over”) + -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”)) 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.
Senses: examples: text: If I travel Aunt, I touch at your Antipodes—your Antipodes are a good raſcally ſort of topſy turvy Fellows—If I had a Bumper I'd ſtand upon my Head and drink a Health to ’em— [...]
ref: 1700, [William] Congreve, The Way of the World, a Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act IV, scene x, pages 63–64:
text: This argument, vaguely political in nature, took place as often as the two men met. It was a topsy-turvy affair, for the Englishman was bitterly anti-English and the Indian fanatically loyal.
ref: 1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC; republished as chapter 3, in Burmese Days (ebook no. 0200051h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, November 2015:
synonyms: inverted
reversed
glosses: Backwards or upside down.
examples: text: [John] Chrysostom saith, An Oath came in when Evils increased, when men appeared unfaithful, when all things became Topsy Turvy.
ref: 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:
text: You have not kept her comfortable-easy. Something has turned her poor little mind topsy-turvies.
ref: [1872, [William] Wilkie Collins, “Lucilla’s Journal, Concluded”, in Poor Miss Finch. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley and Son, →OCLC, 2nd part, page 160:
text: 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.
ref: 2020 June 3, Stefanie Foster, “Comment: The Recovery Starts here”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3:
glosses: Chaotic; disorderly.