oopsy, int. and n. colloq. and nursery (chiefly U.S.).
Brit. /ˈ(w)ʊpsi/, U.S. /ˈ(w)ʊpsi/, /ˈupsi/
Forms: 19– oopsie, 19– oopsy
[Perhaps shortened <upsidaisy int., or perhaps <oops int. + -y suffix6.]
A. int. In sing. and pl. = oops int.
| 1956 Bismarck (N. Dakota) Tribune 21 Jan. 5/2 ‘Oopsie!’ Vanilla, soda and butter were omitted. 1967 W. Stegner All Little Live Things v. ii. 215 Oopsie, there's a car, they're starting to arrive. Bye-eee. 1992 A. Maupin Maybe Moon ii. 30 ‘Oopsy.’.. She grabbed the wheel and made a quick recovery. 2002 Los Angeles Times (Electronic ed.) 24 Mar. a25 They jacked it up, tried to heave it into a carriage, and—oopsies!—the darn thing cracked in two. |
B. n. A lapse, an error.
| 1969 Daily Tribune (Great Bend, Kansas) 25 May a7/2 (headline) Bissell's EHU has lesson on ‘oopsies’. 1994 J. Barnes Mother of Storms (1995) ii. 139 Maybe there was an ‘oopsie’ in the engineering somewhere. 2003 Mother Earth News Mar.–Apr. 94/1 Adverse drug reactions are one of the leading causes of death in this country... We're dying from drug companies' oopsies. |