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Definition of Topsy-turvy
1. Adverb. In a disordered manner. "They were piled up higgledy-piggledy"
2. Adjective. In utter disorder. "A disorderly pile of clothes"
Similar to: Untidy
Derivative terms: Disorderliness, Hugger-mugger, Topsy-turvyness
3. Adverb. In disorderly haste. "We ran head over heels toward the shelter"
Definition of Topsy-turvy
1. Adjective. Backwards or upside-down; disorderly; chaotic. ¹
2. Adverb. Backwards or upside-down; disorderly; chaotically. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of Topsy-turvy
Literary usage of Topsy-turvy
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Punch by Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Shirley Brooks, Francis Cowley Burnand, Owen Seaman (1854)
"The Bear at first felt uncommonly proud, As he pawed at tiller, and pulled at
shroud, With a topsy-turvy, cannon and scrimmage, The Bear at first felt ..."
2. Inside the Russian Revolution by Rheta Childe Dorr (1917)
"INSIDE THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION CHAPTER I topsy-turvy LAND EARLY in May,, I went
to Russia, eager to see again, in the hour of her deliverance, ..."
3. Gilbert and Sullivan and Their Operas: With Recollections and Anecdotes of D by François Cellier, Cunningham Bridgeman (1914)
"... topsy-turvy piece— " Old fashioned " Savoy opera proves acceptable—Samples of
Gilbert's song-words—Another tenor comedian—A Gilbertian love-scene. ..."
4. Child Life: A Collection of Poems edited by John Greenleaf Whittier (1873)
"... They danced by the light of the moon, — The moon, They danced by the light of
the moon. — Edward Lear. topsy-turvy WORLD. IF the butterfly courted the ..."
5. Letters of Thomas Carlyle, 1826-1836 by Thomas Carlyle, Charles Eliot Norton (1889)
"If one gets enraged, he flings all topsy-turvy ; and is, and produces round him,
... topsyturvy ..."
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