arsy-versy
Britishadverb
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backwards or upside down
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in reverse
Etymology
Origin of arsy-versy
C16: from arse + Latin versus turned, modelled on compounds like hurly-burly
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In each case an old tennis hand was the obstacle that sent the youngsters arsy-versy: Gardnar Mulloy, 37, and Billy Talbert, 32.
From Time Magazine Archive
Suddenly three frolicsome girls with their aunt come to live with him, turn everything arsy-versy.
From Time Magazine Archive
To keep the ice clear of objects that might send her arsy-versy when she is traveling at 35 m.p.h., her troupe is forbidden to wear hairpins, the electrical superstructure over the rink is scrupulously vacuumed.
From Time Magazine Archive
Author Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald's title implies that the world his latest stories tell about is cockeyed, arsy-versy.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
