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upside

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on the upside

Considering the positive, beneficial, advantageous, etc., aspects of a situation, especially one that is or would be otherwise negative, detrimental, or disadvantageous. My wife went into labor while we were still away in Europe. The whole ordeal was really stressful, but on the upside, our son now has EU citizenship!

See also: on, upside

turn a place upside down

Fig. to search a place thoroughly. The cops turned the whole house upside down but never found the gun. I had to turn the place upside down to find my car keys.

See also: down, place, turn, upside

turn someone or something upside down

 

1. Lit. to invert someone or something. The wrestler turned his opponent upside down and dropped him on his head. I turned the bottle upside down, trying to get the last drop out.

2. Fig. to upset someone or something; to thoroughly confuse someone or something. The whole business turned me upside down. It'll take days to recover.

See also: down, turn, upside

turn something upside down

Fig. to throw things all about in a thorough search for someone or something. We turned this place upside down, looking for the lost ring. Please don't turn everything upside down, looking for your book.

See also: down, turn, upside

*upside-down

Fig. in a financial state such that one owes more money on a car, truck, house, etc., than its resale value. (*Typically: be ~; get ~.) When I tried to trade in the car, I found that I was upside-down and couldn't close the deal without more money. I took a loan period that was too long and was upside-down in two years.

turn something upside down

to change something completely turn something inside out His experience in the war turned his world upside down. The crash of the dot-com companies turned lives upside down.

Related vocabulary: turn something on its head

See also: down, turn, upside

your whole world came crashing down around you

  also your whole world (was) turned upside down

if your whole world comes crashing down around you, something unpleasant happens in your life that suddenly makes you feel very upset or confused Suddenly they weren't popular any more, nobody wanted to buy their records, and their whole world came crashing down around them. When I found out he'd had an affair, my whole world turned upside down.

See set the world on fire, think the world of

See also: around, came, crashing, down, whole, world

turn upside down

Put in disorder, mix or mess up, as in He turned the whole house upside down looking for his checkbook. This metaphoric phrase transfers literally inverting something so that the upper part becomes the lower (or vice versa) to throwing into disorder or confusion. [First half of 1800s]

See also: down, turn, upside

upside the head

Against the side of someone's head, as in With those nightsticks the police are known for knocking suspects upside the head. [Slang; second half of 1900s]

See also: head, upside

turn someone upside down

tv. to upset someone; to confuse someone. The events of the week turned us both upside down.

See also: down, turn, upside

turn something upside down

tv. to search a place or thing. We turned his place upside down but never found the gun.

See also: down, turn, upside

upside

n. the good side. There’s not much to look forward to on the upside.