upside down

See also: upsidedown

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

upside down

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• up so down (14th-16th centuries)
• downside up

Etymology

Alteration of earlier up so down, from Middle English up-so-doun, upsedowne, upsadowne (“upside down”), equivalent to up +‎ so +‎ down ("up as down").

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (careful speech) /ˌʌpsaɪd ˈdaʊn/, (fast speech) /ˌʌpsaɪˈdaʊn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adverb

upside down (not comparable)

1. Inverted, so that the top is now at the bottom.

   The Union flag was flying upside down, a sign of danger.

   • 1937, “A Foggy Day (In London Town)”, Ira Gershwin (lyrics), George Gershwin (music):

     For, suddenly, I saw you there / And through foggy London town / The sun was shining upside down!

2. In great disorder.

   The thief had turned the room upside down.

   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     This house is turned upside down since Robin Ostler died.

Synonyms

• (inverted): bottom-upwards, topsy-turvy

Translations

inverted

Armenian: գլխիվայր (hy) (glxivayr), թարս (hy) (tʻars), շուռ տված (šuṙ tvac) Assamese: ওলোটা (ülüta) Azerbaijani: alt-üst, tərsinə Bulgarian: наопаки (bg) (naopaki) Catalan: a l'inrevés (ca) Chinese: Cantonese: 反 (faan2) Mandarin: 反 (zh) (fǎn) Czech: vzhůru nohama Danish: omvendt, på hovedet Dutch: ondersteboven (nl) Estonian: kummuli Finnish: ylösalaisin (fi), nurinperin French: à l'envers, sens dessus dessous (fr) Galician: cabeza abaixo, boca abaixo Georgian: თავდაყირა (tavdaq̇ira) German: auf dem Kopf, verkehrt herum, verkehrt rum, umgekehrt (de) Greek: ανάποδα (el) (anápoda) Haitian Creole: tèt anba Hebrew: הָפוּךְ m (hafúch) Hindi: उल्टा (hi) (ulṭā), विलोमित (hi) (vilomit) Hungarian: fejjel lefelé (hu) Iban: tunsang Icelandic: á hvolfi Irish: bunoscionn Italian: a rovescio, sottosopra (it), al rovescio, a testa in giù, al contrario (it) Japanese: 逆さに (ja) (sakasa ni), 逆さまに (ja) (sakasama ni) Korean: 거꾸로 (ko) (geokkuro) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: sernişîv (ku), serberjêr (ku), nixûm (ku) Latin: inversus Lithuanian: aukštyn kojomis Malay: please add this translation if you can Maori: kōaro Norwegian: Bokmål: opp ned Nynorsk: opp ned Polish: do góry nogami (pl) Portuguese: de cabeça para baixo, de ponta-cabeça, ao contrário, de pernas para o ar Punjabi: ਪੁੱਠਾ (puṭṭhā) Romanian: cu fundul în sus, cu susul în jos Russian: вверх дно́м (ru) (vverx dnóm), вверх нога́ми (vverx nogámi), кверх нога́ми (kverx nogámi) (colloquial) Scottish Gaelic: bun-os-cionn Sikkimese: ག་སྦུབ (ga sbub) Slovak: naopak, dole hlavou, hore nohami Spanish: al revés, boca abajo, bocabajo, de cabeza Swedish: upp och ner (sv), uppochner (sv), upp och ned (sv), uppochned (sv) Tagalog: tumbalik, tiwarik (tl) Tamil: தலைகீழாக (ta) (talaikīḻāka) Ukrainian: догори́ дри́ґом (dohorý drýgom), вверх дно́м (vverx dnóm), вверх нога́ми (uk) (vverx nohámy) Vietnamese: lộn ngược Walloon: cou å hôt Welsh: ben ucha'n isa'

in great disorder

Finnish: sekaisin (fi), ylösalaisin (fi), sotkussa (fi) French: sens dessus dessous (fr) Galician: patas arriba Greek: άνω κάτω (el) (áno káto) Hebrew: הָפוּךְ m (hafúch) Hungarian: szanaszét (hu) Irish: trí chéile Italian: sottosopra (it), a soqquadro (it) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: serûbin (ku), tarûmar (ku) Polish: do góry nogami (pl) Portuguese: de pernas para o ar Romanian: pe dos Russian: кувырко́м (ru) (kuvyrkóm) Scots: awhummle Slovak: hore nohami Spanish: de cabeza, patas arriba (es) Swedish: upp och ned (sv) Tamil: தலைகீழாக (ta) (talaikīḻāka) Vietnamese: đổ lộn Walloon: cou dzeu cou dzo (wa)

Adjective

upside down (not comparable)

1. Inverted; turned so that the top is at the bottom.

   The pattern resembled an upside down letter W.

2. In great disorder.
   • 1901, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, The lion's whelp: a story of Cromwell's time, page 248:

     The wenches and the men have been on the streets all day, and the kitchen is upside down. You never saw the like.

3. (finance) Owing more money for something than it is worth; having negative equity.

   He's upside down on his mortgage.

Synonyms

• (having negative equity): underwater

Derived terms

• fuck someone upside down
• turn one's life upside down
• turn one's world upside down
• turn the frown upside down
• turn upside down
• upside-down cake
• upside-down fire
• upside down fridge
• upside-down income statement
• upside-down Jenny
• upside-down tree

Translations

inverted

Bikol Central: bulagsok, bugsok (bcl), suwi Bulgarian: обърнат (bg) (obǎrnat) Catalan: a l'inrevés (ca), cap per avall Danish: omvendt Dutch: omgekeerd (nl), op zijn kop Finnish: ylösalainen (fi) French: à l'envers (fr) Greek: ανάποδος (el) (anápodos) Hebrew: הָפוּךְ m (hafúkh) Hungarian: fordított (hu), megfordított (hu), fejjel lefelé fordított Iban: tunsang Irish: bun os cionn Italian: invertito (it), inverso (it), capovolto (it), rovesciato (it), a testa in giù Japanese: 逆さ (ja) (sakasa), 逆さま (ja) (sakasama) Malay: terbalik (ms) Ottoman Turkish: وارون (varun) Polish: do góry nogami (pl) Portuguese: de cabeça para baixo, de ponta-cabeça Slovak: obrátený Spanish: al revés Swedish: uppochnedvänd (sv), uppochnervänd (sv) Turkish: altüst (tr) Vietnamese: lộn ngược Welsh: wyneb i waered

having negative equity

Polish: do góry nogami (pl)

in great disorder

Polish: do góry nogami (pl)

Proper noun

upside down

1. Alternative form of Upside Down.
   • 2022 September, Scott R. Sheehan, “The President’s Prose: Inside, Outside, Upside Down”, in Music Educators Journal‎, volume 109, number 1, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 7–10:

     It is in the upside down where we can find many opportunities to grow and learn.

   • 2023 January, Tess Bissell, “Teaching in the Upside Down: What Anti–Critical Race Theory Laws Tell Us About the First Amendment”, in Stanford Law Review‎, volume 75, page 212:

     it asks courts to step into the reality educators face: the reality of teaching in the upside down.

Anagrams

• downside up