topside-turvy

Adverb

topsy-turvy (comparative more topsy-turvy, superlative most topsy-turvy)

1. Backwards or upside down; also, having been overturned or upset.
   • Thou toyl'ſt in perrill, and the vvindie ſtorme, / Doth topſide-turuey toſſe thee as thou floteſt.[1594, Robert Garnier, translated by Thomas Kid [i.e., Thomas Kyd], Pompey the Great, His Faire Corneliaes Tragedie: […], London: […] [James Roberts] for Nicholas Ling, published 1595, →OCLC, act I...

   Synonyms:

   inverted, reversed, downside up, reverse, up so down, upside down, upsidown, upsy-down

2. (figuratively) Not in the natural order of things; in a disorderly manner; chaotically.
   • Diuilliſh it is to deſtroy a cittie, but more then diuilliſhe, to euert citties, to betraye countreies, to cause ſeruaunts to kyll their maiſters, parentes theyr children, children their parentes, wiues their huſbandes, and to turne all things topſy turuy, and yet it doth ſo, as ſhalbe declared.1576, T[homas] R[ogers], “Of Loue”, in A Philosophicall Discourse, Entituled, The Anatomie of the Minde. […], London: […] I[ohn] C[harlewood] for Andrew Maunsell, […], →OCLC, folio 22, recto

See all 9 meanings of topsy-turvy