topsy-turvey

English

Adjective

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

1. Alternative form of topsy-turvy

Verb

topsy-turvey (third-person singular simple present topsy-turveys, present participle topsy-turveying, simple past and past participle topsy-turveyed)

1. Alternative form of topsy-turvy
   • [1854], G[eorge] E[liel] Sargent, “How the Legacy Went. In Two Chapters.”, in Moralities for Home, London: Groombridge and Sons. […], →OCLC, chapter II (How It Departed), page 148:

     [...] Mrs. Sykes said, ‘her man was the wust she ever knowed when he got topsy-turveyed.’ And as now, he began to get topsy-turveyed pretty regularly before he had finished his daily business with the retiring host of the Holly Bush, there was not much peace at home.

   • 1892, M[aurice] O’Connor Morris, “Introduction”, in Memini: Or Reminiscences of Irish Life, London: Harrison & Sons, […], →OCLC, page ix:

     [M]y literary life was rather topsy-turveyed by a couple of untoward accidents last year, and a prostrating attack of influenza, and bronchitis subsequently, for the cure of which I am indebted to the climate of Portugal, [...]