Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or being a pair of similar objects or images arranged such that one is upside down in relation to the other.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective philately Of a postage stamp, printed upside down relative to the following stamp of the same row or column.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French : tête, head (from Old French teste, from Late Latin testa, skull; see tester) + bêche (short for obsolete béchevet, double head of a bed, from Old French : bes-, twice from Latin bis; see bis + chevet, from Late Latin capitium, opening for the head in a tunic, from Latin, head covering, from caput, capit-, head; see triceps).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French tête-bêche.

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Examples

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Comments

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  • "adj. Of, relating to, or being a pair of postage stamps printed with one upside-down in relation to the other, either deliberately or accidentally. tester2) + bêche (short for obsolete béchevet, double head of a bed, from Old French : bes-, twice, from Latin bis; see bis + chevet, from Late Latin capitium, opening for the head in a tunic, from Latin, head covering, from caput, capit-, head; see triceps).'>French : tête, head (from Old French teste, from Late Latin testa, skull; see tester2) + bêche (short for obsolete béchevet, double head of a bed, from Old French : bes-, twice, from Latin bis; see bis + chevet, from Late Latin capitium, opening for the head in a tunic, from Latin, head covering, from caput, capit-, head; see triceps)."

    - The American Heritage Dictionary

    August 4, 2010

  • Also see tete-beche (from the Wordie era when diacriticals sometimes made a mess). :-)

    August 5, 2010

  • Although I, too, date back to Wordie, I appreciate the historical reference to diacriticals, reesetee. Filing under: did.not.know.that.now.i.do.

    January 12, 2011