topsy-turvy
confused, disorganised
TRANSLATION
topsy turvy = durcheinander, auf den Kopf gestellt --- GOOGLE INDEX topsy-turvy: approximately 1,400,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Love works in miracles every day: such as weakening the strong, and strengthening the weak; making fools of the wise, and wise men of fools; favouring the passions, destroying reason, and in a word, turning everything TOPSY-TURVY.
- Marguerite De Valois
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The immediate cause of the TOPSY-TURVY weather is clear. A pattern of atmospheric circulation that tends to keep frigid air in the Arctic has weakened, allowing big tongues of cold air to descend south, while warmer air has moved north.
(The Boston Globe newspaper)
- Marguerite De Valois
---
The immediate cause of the TOPSY-TURVY weather is clear. A pattern of atmospheric circulation that tends to keep frigid air in the Arctic has weakened, allowing big tongues of cold air to descend south, while warmer air has moved north.
(The Boston Globe newspaper)
Did you
know?
topsy-turvy
adjective
- (in a state of being) confused, not well organized or giving importance to unexpected things; upside down
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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Topsy-turvy, like with similar phrases such as "upside-down", refers to the top and bottom being interchanged from their usual places.
Topsy certainly comes from the word "top".
The origin of turvy is more difficult to pin down however. One theory is that it comes from the Middle English "tirve", meaning to turn or topple over.
Another suggestion is that it is related to "turf" (a synonym for ground), so that topsy-turvy would mean having your head on the turf.
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SYNONYMS
chaotic, jumbled, upside-down, helter-skelter, mixed up
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Moving into a new home always makes your life topsy-turvy for a while."
adjective
- (in a state of being) confused, not well organized or giving importance to unexpected things; upside down
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
Topsy-turvy, like with similar phrases such as "upside-down", refers to the top and bottom being interchanged from their usual places.
Topsy certainly comes from the word "top".
The origin of turvy is more difficult to pin down however. One theory is that it comes from the Middle English "tirve", meaning to turn or topple over.
Another suggestion is that it is related to "turf" (a synonym for ground), so that topsy-turvy would mean having your head on the turf.
---
SYNONYMS
chaotic, jumbled, upside-down, helter-skelter, mixed up
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Moving into a new home always makes your life topsy-turvy for a while."
