Topsy

Topsy
Top|sy
a small black girl character in the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851-52) by Harriet Beecher Stowe. When somebody asks her whether she knows who made her (that is, whether she has heard of God), she replies "I expect I grow'd" (=grew) . People say something "just grew, like Topsy" when they are talking about something whose real origin is not known or about something that has gradually become very large.

Dictionary of contemporary English. 2013.

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  • Topsy — URL: http://topsy.com Коммерческий: да Тип сайта: поисковая система Регистрация …   Википедия

  • TOPSY — (a Teachable OPerating SYstem) ist ein multithreaded, sehr portables Betriebssystem, welches an der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule (ETH) Zürich am Computer Engineering und Networks Laboratory entwickelt wurde. Der Kernel ist ein von… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Topsy — *Topsy, a character in Harriet Beecher Stowe s novel Uncle Tom s Cabin (source of the phrase growed like Topsy ). *Topsy and Tim, a character from the Topsy and Tim series of children s books. *Topsy, a codename for the Japanese passenger… …   Wikipedia

  • Topsy — est une éléphante apprivoisée qui a été exécutée par électrocution le 4 janvier 1903. Sommaire 1 Vie 2 Mort 3 Littérature 4 Références …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Topsy — ist ein Betriebssystem, siehe TOPSY der Vorname von Topsy Küppers der weibliche Teil des schwedischen Folkduos Hai Topsy Topsy Turvy – Auf den Kopf gestellt: der Titel eines britischen Films über Gilbert und Sullivan Topsy (Elefant): der Name… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Topsy — [Topsy] the character of a young black slave girl in the novel Uncle Tom s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Topsy has no parents and, when asked to explain this, she answers, ‚I ’spect I grow’d (= I expect I grew).’ People often mention Topsy when …   Useful english dictionary

  • Topsy — Electrocuting an Elephant, Thomas Alva Edison, 1903. Topsy (c. 1875 – 4 de enero de 1903) fue una elefanta de circo que murió electrocutada en la silla eléctrica. Contenido 1 Vida 2 Muerte …   Wikipedia Español

  • Topsy — the character of a young black slave girl in the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Topsy has no parents and, when asked to explain this, she answers, ‘I ’spect I grow’d (= I expect I grew).’ People often mention Topsy when they… …   Universalium

  • Topsy — /ˈtɒpsi/ (say topsee) phrase grow like Topsy, Colloquial to grow in an unplanned, random way. {with reference to the character Topsy in Harriet Beecher Stowe s Uncle Tom s Cabin (1852) …  

  • topsy —    Used as a transferred name to a black African girl by a white man in Joyce Cary’s short story A Touch of Genius: ‘“Ere,” Robbins called. “You with the pot ‘ere, yaller girl, ‘ere, arf a minute, Topsy.”’ The girl concerned is described as… …   A dictionary of epithets and terms of address

  • topsy — adjective See topsy turvy …   Wiktionary

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