topsy-turvy
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌtɒpsɪˈtəːvi/
ipa: /ˌtɑpsiˈtɚvi/
Forms: form: topsy-turvies
form: topsy-turvys
form: topsy-turvying
form: topsy-turvied
form: topsy-turvied
form: topsy-turvyed
form: topsy-turvyed
form: topsy-turvey
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: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: To turn topsy-turvy or upside down; to invert.
examples: text: [...] 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.
ref: [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:
text: 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?
ref: 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:
text: It is one among their many greater advantages from this surprisal of the enemy, and sudden topsy-turvying of his plans.
ref: 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:
text: [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, [...]
ref: 1892, M[aurice] O’Connor Morris, “Introduction”, in Memini: Or Reminiscences of Irish Life, London: Harrison & Sons, […], →OCLC, page ix:
text: Being from a lower caste, she earns her meager livelihood by cleaning the stairs and guarding the locality (the conventional roles are topsy turvyed).
ref: 2007, “Portrayal of Diaspora Experiences”, in Basavaraj Naikar, editor, Indian English Literature, volume II, New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, →ISBN, page 195:
glosses: To throw into chaos or disorder; to upset.
Derived terms: word: topsy-turvied
word: topsy-turvying