upside down

upside down

See also: upsidedown

English

A nuthatch upside down.

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)

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

     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 606515358, [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) (tʿars), շուռ տված (šuṙ tvac) Assamese: ওলোটা (ülüta) 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) Finnish: ylösalaisin (fi), nurinperin French: à l'envers, sens dessus dessous (fr) Galician: cabeza abaixo German: auf dem Kopf, verkehrt herum, verkehrt rum, umgekehrt (de) Greek: ανάποδα (el) (anápoda) Haitian Creole: tèt anba Hebrew: הָפוּךְ‎ m (hafúch) Hungarian: fejjel lefelé (hu) Iban: tunsang Icelandic: á hvolfi Irish: bunoscionn Italian: a rovescio, sottosopra (it), al rovescio, a testa in giù, al contrario Japanese: 逆さに (sakasa ni), 逆さまに (sakasama ni) Korean: 거꾸로 (ko) (geokkuro) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: sernişîv (ku), serberjêr (ku), nixûm (ku) Latin: inversus 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 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 Slovak: naopak, dole hlavou, hore nohami Spanish: al revés, boca abajo, bocabajo Swedish: upp och ned (sv), uppochned (sv), upp och ner (sv), uppochner (sv) Tagalog: tumbalik, tiwarik (tl) 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) Greek: άνω κάτω (el) (áno káto) Hebrew: הָפוּךְ‎ m (hafúch) Hungarian: szanaszét Irish: trí chéile Italian: sottosopra (it), a soqquadro 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) 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

• upside-down cake
• upside-down fire
• upside down fridge

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 z'n kop French: à l'envers (fr) Greek: ανάποδος (el) (anápodos) Hebrew: הָפוּךְ‎ m (hafúch) Hungarian: fordított (hu), megfordított, 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 (sakasa), 逆さま (sakasama) Malay: please add this translation if you can Ottoman Turkish: وارون‎ (varun) Portuguese: de cabeça para baixo, de ponta-cabeça Slovak: obrátený Spanish: al revés Turkish: altüst (tr) Vietnamese: lộn ngược Welsh: wyneb i waered

having negative equity

in great disorder

Anagrams

• downside up