ˈtopsy-ˈturn, v. Now rare.
Also 7 topside-turn.
[f. topsy as in topsy-turvy + turn v.: cf. the form topsiturnie s.v. topsy-turvy adv. ¶ θ. Sometimes hyphened; also used analytically, to turn topsy.]
trans. To turn topsy-turvy, turn upside down; fig. to throw into confusion. Hence ˈtopsy-ˈturning vbl. n.
| 1573 Twyne æneid x. Dd iv b, Than graue Auletes went, and with his hundred beating ores, He topsy turnes vp streames [L. centenaque arbore fluctus Verberat assurgens]. 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. i. Vocation 744 He..by his travell topsi-turneth then The live and dead, and half-dead horse and men. 1608 Ibid. ii. iv. iii. Schisme 919 Now the furious waues All topsie-turned by th' æolian slaues Do mount & roule. 1632 Heywood Iron Age v. i. Wks. 1874 III. 341 This obiect..Which topsiturnes my braine. 1637 ― Dialogues ix. ibid. VI. 214 All things are topside-turn'd. 1664 Cotton Scarron. 108 Then turning't [a mug] Topsey on her Thumb Says look, here's Supernaculum. 1870 S. Bowles in Merriam Life xxxviii. (1885) II. 159 In the presence of such wickedness, of such suffering, of such topsy-turning of right and wrong. |