Word.ws English Dictionary

arsy versy

arsy versy adverb: tumbling upside down; head over heels; backwards.

Adverb

arsy versy (not comparable)

  1. (UK, idiomatic, vulgar) Tumbling upside down; head over heels; backwards.
    • Who would not haue iudged that same ryche man to haue been a perfecte exaumple and paterne of most welthie and happy state: and this poore Lazare man to be a paterne of vtter miserie? But felicitie is in nowyse to be measured by such thinges as fortune geueth to men in this lyfe. But in the matter...1548, Nicholas Udall (translator), The Paraphrase of Erasmus upon the Newe Testamente, London: Edward Whitchurch, Volume 1, Luke 16
    • Dost thou not know that from the beginning the world goes arsie-versie.1612, Benvenuto, The Passenger of Benvenuto

Synonyms of arsy versy

Forms of arsy versy

alternative formarsey versey
alternative formarsy versey
alternative formarsey versy
alternative formarsy varsy

Origin of arsy versy

Alteration of arsa versa, a blend of an alteration of arse + vice versa, modeled on vicey versey.

Questions about arsy versy

What does arsy versy mean?
Arsy versy means tumbling upside down; head over heels; backwards.
What part of speech is arsy versy?
Arsy versy is an adverb.

Words near arsy versy in the dictionary

  1. arste
  2. arsthinol
  3. Arsura
  4. arsy
  5. arsy varsy
  6. arsy versy
  7. Arsyeniy
  8. art
  9. art and part
  10. art block
  11. art dealer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: arsy versy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “arsy versy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/arsy_versy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.