arsy-versy

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“
Now yonder standeth thy brother Gharib amiddle-most the fightfield and stead where sword and spear we shall wield; go thou to him and bring him to me a prisoner, that I may set him on a camel arsy-versy, and make a show of him and carry him to the land of

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Definitions (1)

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  1. In a reverse manner or way; backward; in a preposterous position; upside down; topsy-turvy: as, “the world goes arsie-versie,”Benvenuto, Passengers' Dialogues. I took the pen first of the lawyer, and turning it arsy-versy, like no instrument for a ploughman, our youngster and the rest of the faction burst into laughter at the simplicity of my fingering. Middleton, Father Hubbard's Tales.

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Examples (2)

  • So the Kitchener weighed it out to him and the good-for-naught entered the shop, whereupon the man set the food before him and he ate till he had gobbled up the whole and licked the saucers and sat perplexed, knowing not how he should do with the Cook concerning the price of that he had eaten, and turning his eyes about upon everything in the shop; and as he looked, behold, he caught sight of an earthen pan lying arsy-versy upon its mouth; so he raised it from the ground and found under it a horse's tail, freshly cut off and the blood oozing from it; whereby he knew that the Cook adulterated his meat with horseflesh. —  Arabian nights. English
  • Now yonder standeth thy brother Gharib amiddle-most the fightfield and stead where sword and spear we shall wield; go thou to him and bring him to me a prisoner, that I may set him on a camel arsy-versy, and make a show of him and carry him to the land of —  Arabian nights. English
 

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Etymologies (1)

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  1. Also arse-versy, arsie-versie, arsy-varsy, a humorous riming compound of English arse + Latin versus, turned. Cf. topsy-turvy, etc.
 

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