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 , printedupside 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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ruzuzu commented on the word tête-bêche
"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
reesetee commented on the word tête-bêche
Also see tete-beche (from the Wordie era when diacriticals sometimes made a mess). :-)
August 5, 2010
logodaedalus commented on the word tête-bêche
Although I, too, date back to Wordie, I appreciate the historical reference to diacriticals, reesetee.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