upend

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to turn or set something on its end or upside down

   They had to upend the barrel to drain the last of the water.

2. 2
   verb

   figurative: to disrupt or radically change an established situation

   The unexpected discovery could upend the accepted account of the event.

A compound of up + end, first expressing the act of setting something with one end uppermost. The figurative sense treats an abrupt disruption as a physical overturning.

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