arsy-varsy
[ahr-see-vahr-see]Informal.
adjective
wrong end foremost; completely backward: an arsy-varsy way of doing things.
adverb
in a backward or thoroughly mixed-up fashion: The papers are all filed arsy-varsy.
Also ar·sy·ver·sy [ahr-see-vur-see] /ˈɑr siˈvɜr si/.
Origin of arsy-varsy
1530–40; probably alteration of Latin vice versa (see vice versa), with arse substituted to make a facetious rhyming compound; for Latin versa > varsy, cf. argal3
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019