topsy-turvies

Noun

topsy-turvy (countable and uncountable, plural topsy-turvies)

1. (countable) An act of turning something backwards or upside down, or the situation that something is in after this has happened.
   • Perhaps he was at a loss for the points of compass, as is often the case in tumbles and topsy-turvies.1850, [Warren Burton], “Augustus Starr, the Privateer who Turned Pedagogue—His New Crew Mutiny, and Perform a Singular Exploit”, in The District School as It Was. […], revised edition, Boston, Mass....
2. (countable, figuratively) A situation where the natural order of things has been upset.
   • [I ...] has seed a heap of scatterments and topsyturvies: here's hoping dat you all may swim smoofly along the briny waves of sacrificin' time, and ford the Jordan of destructive equinoxes, while fiery billows roll beneath!1849, C[alvin] H[enderson] Wiley, “Boyish Conversation”, in Roanoke; or, “Where is Utopia?” […], Philadelphia, Pa.: T. B. Peterson & Brothers, […], published 1866, →OCLC, pages 110–111
3. (figuratively, uncountable) Chaos, confusion, disorder.
   • Why should we [...] use it [our sense of the ludicrous] to degrade the healthy appetites and affections of our nature as they are seen to be degraded in insane patients whose system, all out of joint, finds matter for screaming laughter in mere topsy-turvy, [...?][1879], George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “[Impressions of Theophrastus Such.] Debasing the Moral Currency.”, in Impressions of Theophrastus Such, Essays and Leaves from a Note-book...

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