inside out


With the inner surface turned out or revealed, as in He wore his shirt inside out. This expression dates from about 1600 and was soon used figuratively, as in He turned the verses inside out and revealed their hidden sense.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

How to use inside out in a sentence

  • On this instrument the stockings are turned "inside out" by slipping the article over the post, then quickly "undressing" it.

    Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist | Alexander Berkman
  • And with a look of despair he turned his pockets inside out, and leant back in his chair.

    Digby Heathcote | W.H.G. Kingston
  • I turned my pockets inside out, and then, satisfied that I had no more, he left me.

  • He rummaged his pockets and turned his hat inside out, but all in vain; there was not even a kreutzer!

  • To him it seemed good, the only good thing he had laid hold of since the war had turned his world upside down and inside out.

    The Hidden Places | Bertrand W. Sinclair