arsy-varsy

[ ahr-see-vahr-see ]

adjective
  1. wrong end foremost; completely backward: an arsy-varsy way of doing things.

adverb
  1. in a backward or thoroughly mixed-up fashion: The papers are all filed arsy-varsy.

Origin of arsy-varsy

1
1530–40; probably alteration of Latin vice versa (see vice versa), with arse substituted to make a facetious rhyming compound; for Latin versa>varsy,cf. argal2
  • Also ar·sy·ver·sy [ahr-see-vur-see]. /ˈɑr siˈvɜr si/.

Words Nearby arsy-varsy

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