upside

Everyday

1. "Upside down" means with the top at the bottom and the bottom at the top. tree →
2. "Upside down" also means in a big mess: "The room was turned upside down." tree →
3. The upside is the good side of something that is mostly bad. tree →

In the lessons

In maths, turning a shape or number upside down is a rotation of half a turn; 6 upside down looks like 9. In science, a lens can make an upside-down image. In everyday life, "the upside" is the good part. Phrases: upside down, turn upside down, the upside is.

Examples

• Bats sleep upside down. tree →
• You're holding the map upside down! tree →
• The burglar turned the house upside down. tree →
• A 6 upside down looks like a 9. tree →
• The upside of rain is that the garden gets watered. tree →
• Flip the pancake upside down. tree →
• He turned it upside down, but nothing came out, which surprised him very much. tree →

Note

"Upside" is rarely used alone except as "the upside" (the good side); the opposite is "the downside". "Upside down" (also written "upside-down" before a noun: an upside-down cake). In maths, upside down is a half-turn (180 degrees) rotation, which is not the same as a mirror reflection.

In Jewish tradition

In these books it is part of "turning upside down", a picture of total destruction and emptying out.

Interpretation. Isaiah and Kings use it of God's judgment, as when a dish is wiped and turned over. Tradition reads it as warning that Jerusalem and the earth can be undone by God for their sins.

Examples

• Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. (Prophets ISA.24.1, JPS 1917) tree →
• And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. (Prophets 2KI.21.13, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

"Upside" is rarely used alone except as "the upside" (the good side); the opposite is "the downside". "Upside down" (also written "upside-down" before a noun: an upside-down cake). In maths, upside down is a half-turn (180 degrees) rotation, which is not the same as a mirror reflection.