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 are talking about something that seems to have grown quickly without being noticed:
Once the arms race began, it just grew, like Topsy.