Topsy

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Something or someone who figuratively grows without control or intention.

Pronunciation

/ˈtɒpsi/

Word forms

Topsy

Etymology

After a character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), who, asked about God, says "I s'pect I growed. Don't think nobody never made me." The sense of excessive out-of-control growth is a misunderstanding.

Related words

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