Definition
Tumbling upside down; head over heels; backwards.
Origins
Alteration of arsa versa, a blend of an alteration of arse + vice versa, modeled on vicey versey.
In Context
- "1548, Nicholas Udall (translator), The Paraphrase of Erasmus upon the Newe Testamente, London: Edward Whitchurch, Volume 1, Luke 16, Who would not haue iudged that same ryche man to haue been a perfecte exaumple and paterne of most welthie and happy state: and this poore Lazare man to be a paterne of vtter miserie? But felicitie is in nowyse to be measured by such thinges as fortune geueth to men in this lyfe. But in the matter that we nowe speake of, altogether was sodainly turned in and out clene arsie versy."
- "Dost thou not know that from the beginning the world goes arsie-versie."
- "[…] the estate of that flourishing towne was turned arsie versie, topside the otherwaie, and from abundance of prosperitie quite exchanged to extreame penurie."
- "“You put your back up in the wrong place and you’re passive in the wrong place. You’ve got everything arsy-versy. […]”"
- "Us going in on foot and then the equipment being airlifted in is about as arsy-versy as you can get."
Also Said As
- ass over teakettle
- ass backwards
- back-asswards