top--prophetes.ai

▪ I. top, n.¹
    (tɒp)
    Forms: 1 top, 3–6, (?) 7 toppe, pl. toppes, 4–6 tope, 4–7 topp, 6– Sc. and north. tap, 3– top.
    [OE. top (topp-), Com. WGer. and Norse; = OFris. topp (WFris. top, NFris. top, tup), OLG. *topp (MDu., Du. top(p), MLG., LG. top), OHG. (MHG., Ger.) zopf top, summit, a crest or tuft of hair; ON. toppr top, tuft, Sw. topp top, pinnacle, Da. top top, point, MDa. also tuft of feathers, plume, mod.Norw. also tupp:—OTeut. *tuppo{supz}; not known in Gothic. Outside Teutonic known only in Romanic derivatives: cf. toupet.]
    I. A tuft, crest, or bush of hair, etc.
    1. a. The hair on the summit or crown of the head; the hair of the head. Obs. exc. Sc.
    foreward top = foretop. to take († hent, † nim) by the top, to seize by the hair, lay hold violently (also fig.).

c 1205 Lay. 684 Bi þone toppe [c 1275 bi þe coppe] he hine nome Al swa he hine walde of-slean. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5619 He..hente þis lof bi þe top, & fram þe bord him drou. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 590 His tope [v.rr. top, toppe] was doked lyk a preest biforn. c 1386 ― Reeve's Prol. 15 This white tope writeth myne olde yeris. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 496/2 Top, or fortop (K., P. top of the hed), aqualium. 1535 Coverdale Bel. & Dr. 36 Then the angel..toke him by the toppe, and bare him by the hayre of the heade. 1601 Shakes. All's Well v. iii. 39 Let's take the instant by the forward top: For we are old. a 1643 Cartwright Ordinary ii. ii. 1884 D. Grant Lays & Leg. 21 Eppie got him by the tap..Quo' Davit then,..‘Lat go my puckle hair’.

b. The crest or ‘topping’ of a bird; the fore-lock of a horse, etc. Now Sc. and north. dial.

a 1225 St. Marher. 12 And toc him [the dragon] bi þe ateliche top. 13.. K. Alis. 5186 (Bodl. MS.) Ypotame a wonder beest..; Toppe, & rugge, & croupe, & cors, Is semblabel to an hors. c 1450 Holland Howlat 837 The Golk..Tit the Tuchet be the tope, ourtirvit his hed. 1578 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 296, vi{supd} for iii hearons toppes which were burnte with Torches. 1585 Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 43 Euen so, had Nature,..Giuen her [the phœnix] ane tap, for to augment her grace. 1650 Earl of Monmouth tr. Senault's Man bec. Guilty 353 We deck ourselves with birds feathers, the tops of herons. 1756 M. Calderwood Jrnl. iii. (1884) 66 The horses have..a large top betwixt their ears. 1808–25 Jamieson, Tap..3. The tuft on the head of some fowls. Hence the phrase, tappit hen.

    2. a. A tuft or handful of hair, wool, fibre, etc.; esp. the portion of flax or tow put on the distaff (in full, top of flax, lint († line), tow). Also fig. Now only Sc. and north. dial. [Cf. med.L. toppus lini (top of flax).]
    to tak one's tap in one's lap: see quot. 1825.
    [But some refer this sense to top n.², as having reference to the shape; cf. quot. 1891 in 36.]

a 1250 Owl & Night. 428 Ne rouhte þe þeyh flockes were Imeynd bi toppes & bi here. c 1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 144 E serencez du lyn le toup [gloss] hekele, a top of flax. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 696/3 Hoc lapsum, a top of lin. 1558 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 25 Into vi nighte cappes & toppes of turkes headdes peces. 1681 S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. 258 A Top of Lint for his Panash. 1794 Burns Weary Pund o' Tow iv, Gae spin your tap o' tow! 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxvii[i], ‘And does your honour think’, said Jeanie, ‘that will do as weel as if I were to take my tap in my lap, and slip my ways hame again?’ 1825 Jamieson s.v. Tap, To tak one's tap in one's lap, and set aff, to turse up one's baggage, and be gone..from the practice of women accustomed to spin from a rock, who often carried their work with them to the house of some neighbour. 1894 Northumbld. Gloss., Top, in spinning, the quantity of flax put on the ‘rock’ at a time.

b. spec. A bundle of combed wool prepared for spinning. Chiefly pl. (also collect. sing.).

1637 Bury Wills (Camden) 169, I owe John Brightall for combeing of ten skore poundes and ten of tops. 1759 Overseers' Acc., Holy Cross, Canterb., To 1 Top of wool for worsted deliver'd to Mrs. Hawley..0. 2. 0. 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. iv. 129 The wool generally comes to the factories in narrow bundles or ‘tops’, about eighteen inches long, and weighing about a pound and a half or two pounds each. 1882 Worc. Exhib. Catal. iii. 31 Combing process, separating long wool from short, the long wool being then called combed tops. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Top, a bundle of combed wool as made up by the comber for spinning, usually weighing about 28lbs... At present the word is applied to the bundles of combed wool from the machine—hand combing having been quite superseded.

    II. The highest or uppermost part.
    3. a. The highest point or part of anything; perh. originally a pointed or peaked summit, an apex or peak; but now applied to the uppermost part, whatever its nature or shape; the highest place or limit of something. Also pl., mountain tops, high moorland, etc.
    to swim at the top (fig.), to maintain a high social position.

c 1000 ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 143/26 Apex, summitas galeæ, helmes top. c 1205 Lay. 1339 He hihte hondlien kablen Teon seiles to toppa [c 1275 toppe]. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1422 Vp to þe toppe from þe more. c 1275 Lay. 7781 In þan grunde of þe tur mihte sitte Sixti hundred cnihtes And þe toppe [c 1205 þa turres cop] mihte wreie On cniht mid his cope. 13.. K. Alis. 1417 (Bodl. MS.) Hii drawen sayl to top of mast. a 1400–50 Alexander 2110 Þan vp he clame to a cliffe..Þare fand he tildid on þe top & tild vp a cite. 1459 Paston Lett. I. 488 Pottis of sylver,..enamelyd on the toppys withe hys armys. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 54 b, Reaching from Thuringe..vnto the toppe of the Alpes. c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon §215 (1810) 223 Trees..no taller than a man may touch to top with his hand. 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 74 The Door is made..with an opening at the Top. 1691 Hartcliffe Virtues 229 This Sentence should be writ on our Houses Tops. 1781 Cowper Truth 549 From Sinai's top Jehovah gave the law. 1825 Scott Talism. i, The flat top of his cumbrous cylindrical helmet was unadorned with any crest. 1873 J. Richards Wood-working Factories 116 Everything about the top of a bench must be strong and simple. 1930 L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. viii. 190 A wedge-shaped block of ninety thousand acres of high tops, mostly bush-bound. 1948 A. Paton Cry, Beloved Country i. x. 65 He would tell him of..the mist that shrouded the tops above Ndotsheni. 1951 E. Coxhead One Green Bottle ii. 45 Cathy saw the great Welsh tops at last..four great blue mountains grouped at its farther end. 1976 Lancs. Evening Post 7 Dec. 8/3 There's no collective name for these tops but I've always known them as the Troutbeck Fells. 1980 J. Wainwright Kill of Small Consequence xiv. 109 Up on The Tops the first snows of winter had already etched the dry-stone walls.

b. That part of anything portable which, when it is in use, occupies the highest place; e.g. the top of a page, map, etc.

1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. ii. 107 They vse to writ it on the top of Letters. 1681 S. Fell in Jrnl. Friends' Hist. Soc. July (1912) 136 You may see at the Topp of every leafe, which Meetings testimonies followes. 1817 Parl. Deb. 430 Lord Cochrane..knew persons in office had frequently procured signatures to petitions without a top. 1859 Lang Wand. India 388 ‘Order a fresh bottle of our wine for him, Blade’, said the Colonel, ‘and let him taste the top of it’.

c. The higher end of anything on a slope; † the head or source of a river (obs.), the head of a lake (arch.), of a street, etc.; also that end of anything which is conventionally considered the higher, as of a room or dining-table; the end of a billiard-table opposite the baulk.

1624 Capt. Smith Virginia ii. 23 The third navigable river is called Toppahanock... At the top of it inhabit the people called Mannahoacks amongst the mountaines. 1782 H. Cowley Which is the Man v. ii, Coming down from the Top [of the room], addressing the Company. 1811 T. Wilson Country Dancing (ed. 2) 129 The top of the Dance or Set..is known thus:—the Ladies will always have the top of the Set on their right hands, and the Gentlemen on their left. 1849 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. (1883) II. 41 In the omnibus to the top of Sloane Street. 1896 W. Broadfoot Billiards i. 51 M{supc}Neil..certainly played the ‘top of the table’ game better than any of his contemporaries. 1906 A. Werner Natives Brit. Cent. Africa xii. 282 They..went on to the north, and round the top of the lake. 1927 Observer 20 Mar. 29 Prior..is essentially an all-round player with a tendency to make the top of the table game his chief scoring medium.

d. In the war of 1914–18, with reference to the parapet of a trench; esp. in phr. (to go) over the top (at the start of an attack). Also fig.

1916 War Illustr. 9 Sept. 80/1 Some fellows asked our captain when we were going over the top. 1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 184 When, at a scheduled time, the infantry emerge over the top behind a curtain of shells, the contact patrol buses follow their doings. 1923 Publishers' Circular 24 Nov. 703/2 If Canada, metaphorically speaking, ‘goes over the top’, it will be against the wishes of the rest of the Empire and against the wishes of her own authors and publishers. 1933 J. Buchan Prince of Captivity ii. i. 154 Life's a perpetual affair of going over the top. 1962 [see auntie, aunty b]. 1971 S. Hill Strange Meeting 120 Armstrong went over the top with the first wave and was hit almost at once. 1978 T. Willis Buckingham Palace Connection ix. 179 ‘This is it, then.’ ‘Yep... Over the top and the best of luck.’

4. a. The uppermost division of the body; the head; esp. the crown of the head. Chiefly, now only, in alliterative expressions: see 25, 26, and in slang phrases, as to blow one's top: see blow v.¹ 24 i; to be off one's top (chiefly Austral.) = to be off one's nut s.v. nut n.¹ 7 b; to do one's top = to do one's nut s.v. nut n.¹ 7 d. Also up top, with reference to brains, intelligence.

a 1225 Juliana 59 Ouer al & from þe top to þe tan. 1303, c 1330 [see 25, 25 d]. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 229 Tyd by top & bi to, þay token hym synne. a 1400–50 Alexander 752* And toton owt of hys top als tyndis of hornes. ? a 1500 Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) II. 176 Thou take hym by þe toppe and I by þe tayle. ? a 1500 Debate Carpenters Tools 188 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 86 Methinke gode ale is in ȝour tope. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iv. ii. 354 Soft hoa, what truncke is heere? Without his top? 1821 Scott Kenilw. ix, The pains I have bestowed on the top and bottom of..Dickie, whom I have painfully made to travel through the accidence.

1916 C. J. Dennis Songs Sentimental Bloke vi. 48 'E's fair orf 'is top wiv love. 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. vi. 130 The state of being stupid is described variously as being off one's..tile, top or saucer. 1961 She Oct. 28/3 Peg, you've got enough up top for both of us. 1972 F. Warner Lying Figures iii. 32 Mousey little creature, bless her, not much up top if y'know what I mean. 1977 Shoot 18 June 22 (caption) Always does his top when he scores, you know.

b. The uppermost branch of a deer's horn: esp. in phr. on (upon) top.

1486 Bk. St. Albans e j b, When he hath Awntelere with owt any lett Ryall and Surriall also there Isett, And that in the toppe so. 1801 in C. P. Collyns Notes Chase Wild Red Deer (1862) App. 211 The remaining horn had three on top with all his rights. 1886 Wellington (Som.) Weekly News 19 Aug., A large, heavy deer, with two upon top on each side.

5. Usually pl. The part of a plant growing above ground as distinct from the root; esp. of a vegetable grown for the ‘root’, as turnip-tops. Also the tender tips of branches or shoots.

[1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 22 Pieres..bad me toten on þe tree on toppe and on rote.] 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §28 Thanne he taketh the barley or otes by the toppes. 1552 Huloet, Toppe of an herbe, capillamentum. 1639 O. Wood Alph. Bk. Secrets 10 Then take the young tops of Rosemary, Marigolds [etc.]. 1725 Watts Logic i. vi. §3 If the buds are made our food, they are called heads, or tops. 1766 Complete Farmer s.v. Radish 6 I 1/1 They will run up in tops, and not increase in their roots. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 5 Tops of turnips make good feeding at the beginning of the season. 18.. U.S. Dispensatory (ed. 14) 827 (Cent. Dict.) The fruits and tops of juniper are the only officinal parts.

6. pl. (also collect. sing.). The smaller branches and twigs of trees as distinct from the timber.
Often with lop, as top(s and lop(s, lop(s and top(s, lop(s, top(s, and bark (or crop(s).

1485–6 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 98 Rec. xvjs. pro corticibus et Toppys in silva de Rylley. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §154 If thou haue any woode to selle..sell the toppes as they lye. 1669, etc. [see lop n.³ 1]. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade s.v. Lop, In a sale of standing timber trees they are advertised with their ‘lop, top, and bark’.

7. The extremity of a growing part (which is often the highest and usually the most slender point); hence the narrower end (of anything tapering), the point, tip. top and butt (Shipbuilding), a method of working long tapering planks together in pairs with the top of one to the butt of another, so as to maintain a constant width.

1538 Elyot, Sagitta, an arow, also the top of a twygge or rodde. 1573–80 Baret Alv. T 290 The sharpnesse of the top, or tippe of the nose... The tops, or tips of the fingers. 1754 J. Shebbeare Matrimony (1766) I. 76 My Lord stept off lightly, on the Tops of his Toes. 1815 Burney Falconer's Dict. Marine, Top and Butt, in ship-building, a general method of working the English plank (except in the topside) to make good work and conversion, which is done by disposing of the top-end of every plank, within six feet of the butt-end of the plank above or below it. 1866 Chambers' Encycl. VIII. 684/2 Top-and-butt.

8. In various applications. a. In Gem-cutting: see quot. b. The inside of a roof; a ceiling; spec. the roof of a coal-mine or tunnel. c. tops and bottoms: the flattish halves of small rolls sliced lengthways, and browned in the oven; rusks. d. See quot. 1905, and cf. bottom n. 8 a. e. Mining. See quot. f. orig. U.S. A circus tent. Cf. big top s.v. big a. B. 2.

a. 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., Top, that portion of a cut gem which is between the girdle, or extreme margin, and the table or flat face.

b. 1706 Swift Baucis & Philemon 58 The kettle to the top was hoist, And there stood fasten'd to a joist. 1830 T. Wilson Pitman's Pay (1843) 13 For if maw ‘top’ comes badly down. 1844 F. W. Simms Pract. Tunnelling ix. 83 This stage of progress, which is technically called ‘getting in the top’ [of a tunnel]. 1889 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Top, the ceiling, as ‘th' room top’, ‘th' kitchen top’. 1894 Northumbld. Gloss., Top, in mining, the portion of coal that has been kirved and nicked, and is ready to be blasted or wedged down.

c. 1765 Univ. Mag. XXXVII. 371/2 The biskets called tops and bottoms, or rusks. 1866 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 55 Some nice tops-and-bottoms for its supper.

d. 1905 Daily Chron. 17 July 4/7 The labourers who board the steamers inquire anxiously for ‘tops and bottoms’—that is, everything that has been left undrunk in the passengers glasses.

e. 1894 Northumbld. Gloss., Top, the blue flame above a candle or lamp.., whose appearance indicates the presence of fire-damp in the mine.

f. 1931 Amer. Mercury Nov. 354/2 Top, a tent. 1942 D. Powell Time to be Born xii. 291 A perpetual rain cloud spread like a circus top. 1959 Manch. Guardian 16 July 5/1 He supervises the erection of the ‘top’.

III. A piece or part placed upon or fitted to anything, and forming its upper part or covering.
9. a. A platform near the head of each of the lower masts of a ship. In early fighting ships, a platform at the head of the mast, fenced with a rail (cf. top-armour, 35), stored with missiles and occupied by archers, etc., called more fully top-castle; later, a similar platform on which musketeers or riflemen were stationed (cf. topman¹ 3); in a modern warship, an armoured platform on a short mast, for machine-guns, signalling, etc.; more fully fighting-top, military top. In a sailing ship, a framework and platform serving to extend the rigging of the topmast, and for convenience in making sail.

c 1420 ? Lydg. Assembly of Gods 342 A shyp with a toppe & seyle was hys crest. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon cvii. 360 He caused one of the maryners to mounte vp into the toppe to se yf he myght se any lond. 1561 Eden Arte Navig. i. vii. 9 If you stande in the toppe of the shyppe. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. round World (1699) 208 We saw the light in the Admirals top, which continued about half an hour. 1764 Veitch in Phil. Trans. LIV. 291 The top, or round scaffolding on the mast..in this ship it was 18 feet broad. 1859 All Year Round No. 17. 399 We literally raced for the lubber's hole, through which we crept, and then stood in the top to survey the scene. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Half-top, the mode of making ships' tops in two pieces, which are afterwards secured as a whole by what are termed sleepers.

b. Naut. Short for topsail: see quots.
† to pull or take down, bow, or vail one's top, to lower one's topsail in token of submission or respect; said of a ship, hence fig. of a person. Obs.

1513–42 Hist. Sir W. Wallace x. (1881) 54 All the shipis..pulling down ther topis, did obeysance vnto the read Lyon. a 1600 Hooker Serm. Justif. §28 Let the Pope take downe his top and captiuate no more mens soules. 1694 Motteux Rabelais iv. lxiv. (1737) 264 A fresh gale..began to fill the..Tops, and Top-gallants.

c. top and topgallant, short for topsail and topgallant sail; hence fig. (also attrib.); as adv. with all sail set, in full array or career.

1593 Nashe Christ's T. 71 b, Theyr heads, with theyr top and top gallant Lawne-baby caps. 1594 Peele Battle of Alcazar iii. iii, He cometh hitherward amain, Top and top-gallant, all in brave array. 1607 Merry Devil Edmonton i. i. 34 Heele be here top and top-gallant presently. 1626 Bacon Sylva §646, I have seen..one Rose grow out of another, like Honey-suckle, that they call Top and Top-Gallants. 1662 Owen Animadv. Fiat Lux xiii. Wks. (ed. Gould) XIV. 111 They carry their top and top-gallant so high that they will go to heaven without Christ. 1812 Scott Rokeby ii. xi, Top and top-gallant hoisted high,..The Dæmon-frigate braves the gale. 1819 ― Let. in Lockhart (1837) IV. viii. 239, I did not lose my senses,..but I thought once or twice they would have gone over-board, top and top gallant.

10. a. The uppermost part of the leg of a high boot or riding-boot, spec. when widened out or turned over (as in 17th c.); now, on hunting-boots and the like, a broad band of material (simulating the turned-over part), white, light-coloured, or brown. Also pl. short for top-boots.

1629 Disc. Leather 13 The manner of cutting Bootes out with huge, slouenly, vnmannerly, and immoderate tops. 1683 Lond. Gaz. No. 1869/4 A pair of Boots without Tops. 1835 Sir G. Stephen Adv. Search Horse xv. 193 Boots, that once had tops, approach within six inches of the knee. 1836–9 Dickens Sk. Boz, First of May, Knee-cords and tops superseded nankeen drawers and rosetted shoes. 1837 ― Pickw. x, Mr. Samuel Weller happened to be..engaged in burnishing a pair of painted tops. 1846–79 R. E. Egerton-Warburton Hunting Songs lix. (1883) 162 Above the boots' jet polish Was a top of tender stain, Nor brown nor white, but a mixture light, Of rose-leaves and champagne. 1904 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 675/2 They had red waistcoats, white breeches, white tops, black velvet caps and white gloves.

b. The gauntlet part of a glove; the turned-down top part of men's hose.

1819 Scott Leg. Montrose ii, A pair of gauntlets,..the tops of which reached up to his elbow. 1906 in Daily Chron. 20 Aug. 3/3 The Highland regiments introduced complications with five different tartans, and three different patterns of hose-tops.

11. In various technical applications: † a. A piece (perh. a socket) fitted to the upper end of a torch-staff. Obs. b. The terminal joint of a fishing-rod. c. A jewel worn in the lobe of the ear, often with a ‘drop’ or pendant; usually in tops and drops. † d. A lady's high ‘head’: see head n. 5. Obs. e. pl. A framing which increases the capacity of a cart; shelvings, cart-ladders, load-trees. f. Spinning. The top-cards in a carding-engine. g. The glass or metal stopper of a scent-bottle or the like; also, an inverted tumbler used as a cap to cover a decanter; also, the lid of other kinds of container, esp. the metal-foil cover of a milk bottle, the colour of which may indicate the kind or quality of the milk, as gold top, silver top, etc. h. The hood or cover of a carriage. Subsequently also of a motor-car (chiefly U.S.): see hard top s.v. hard a. 23 a, soft top s.v. soft a. 29. i. Typog. See quot. j. Orig., a piece of female dress covering the neck and shoulders, worn with a certain kind of gown made without this part. Now usu. a blouse or similar upper garment for wearing with a skirt, trousers, etc.; cf. sun-top s.v. sun n. 11 d, tank-top s.v. tank n.¹ 5, etc.

a. 1453 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 162 Pro faccione ij torchearum novarum et pro ij toppes magn. torch.

b. 1676 Walton & Cotton Angler ii. xii. 101 Though I have taken with the Angle..some thousands of Trouts..my top never snapt, though my Line still continued fast. 1706 R. H[owlett] Angler's Sure Guide 79 The Stock [of the Rod] bored no wider than to carry a Ground-top therein, or a Flie-top.

c. 1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3942/4 Stolen.., a pair of Diamond Ear-Rings, with 4 large Faucet Diamonds (Tops and Drops). 1761 Colman Genius No. 3 in Prose on Sev. Occas. (1787) I. 34 To humour my wife, little Tubal was ordered to furnish her with a pair of diamond tops. 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Sutherl. I. 79 In her ears hung pendant diamonds, top and drop.

d. 1780 Mrs. Delany in Life & Corr. Ser. ii. (1862) II. 524 Rows upon rows of fine ladies with towering tops.

e. 1844 Stephens Bk. Farm III. 1087 The common cart..mounted with a framing called tops, is used in some parts of the country.

f. 1845 Statist. Acc. Scot. VI. 147 In 1815 Mr. Smith constructed a carding-engine, having the flats or tops moveable on hinges. 1851 L. D. B. Gordon Art Jrnl. Illustr. Catal. p. iv**/2 The large card-drum is generally surmounted by urchin or squirrel cards instead of tops.

g. 1862 M. E. Braddon Lady Audley xvi, Do you suppose that because people don't wear vinegar tops, or part their hair on the wrong side..by way of proving the vehemence of their passion? 1889 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. II. 361 This stopper is of tin, has a top screw with two holes. Whenever this top is a little unscrewed the liquid can come out of the bottle by drops. 1893 N. & Q. 8th Ser. III. 233/2 A carafe and ‘top’ is the shop-name for such a vessel [i.e. tumbler] and the bottle ministrant. 1958 A. Sillitoe Saturday Night & Sunday Morning ii. 35 Screwing the top back on the flask. 1959, 1972 [see milk bottle s.v. milk n. 9 a]. 1979 Dairy Mirror Nov. 8/3 (caption) Lisa Faulkner..displays the 10,000th Gold Top Milk Gymnastics Award Scheme double gold certificate. 1980 Ibid. Feb. 1/1 The retail price of a pint of ordinary silver top milk goes up from 15p to 16½p. 1981 J. Barnett Firing Squad v. 48 What do you think this is, laddie? The top off a Fry's cocoa-tin?

h. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 54 The top of the Coaches is made with round hoopes. 1884–1898 [implied in top-buggy, -phaeton, -wagon: see 27]. 1910 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 1143/2 Three-bow skeleton automobile top of heavy moroccoline. 1942 D. Powell Time to be Born ii. 51 Ted would never put the top down when he drove. 1977 H. Fast Immigrants iii. 199 They argued about putting up the top.

i. 1888 Jacobi Printer's Vocab. 142 Tops. In stacking work as printed off, the warehouseman places a few sheets of each signature on the top, so that they may be at hand if a set of advanced sheets are asked for, thereby obviating the lifting of a quantity of work.

j. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 14 Aug. 3/2 The main thing is to have several well-fitting slips and a selection of tops... I saw a very pretty creamy chiffon top the other day. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 341 His little man-o'-war top and unmentionables were full of sand. 1949 N. Mitford Love in Cold Climate ii. i. 186 A jersey top, however Parisian, was obviously unacceptable for evening wear in high Oxford society. 1968 Daily Mirror 20 Aug. 9/2 And I got a couple of bright flowery roll-neck tops..and some super things for the beach, stretch bikini bottoms and loose towelling tops in hectic colours.

12. Short for top-button: see 34.

1852 W. Hutton in Househ. Words V. 108/1 The long coats of our grandfathers, covered with half a gross of high-tops. 1860 Tomlinson Arts & Manuf. Ser. ii. Buttons 38 The buttons [are] stirred about in the solution for all-overs; or brushed on the face for tops. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. 416/1 When the face only is gilt, the buttons are technically known as tops.

    IV. fig. and transf. The part of anything which has the first place in time, order, or precedence.
    13. Of time: The earliest part of a period; the beginning.
    For the top of the morning, as a greeting, see 17.

c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 1000 In thende of Octob'r, or in the toppe [orig. inicio] Of Novemb'r. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 98 A mellifluous Army of Bees, from the top of the morning, till the cool and dark evening. 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 403/1 The dawn is awakened by a cry in the streets of ‘Hot-cross-buns; one-a-penny buns..!’ This proceeds from some little ‘peep-o'-day boy’, willing to take the ‘top of the morning’ before the rest of his compeers.

14. a. The highest, chief, or leading position, place, or rank; the head, forefront; now freq. in the top of the tree (fig.). Also in Journalism, Broadcasting, etc., the leading position in a news bulletin, or the top of a column in a newspaper.

1627 Hakewill Apol. Pref. 5 By vertue..being come to the top, they lost it againe by vice. a 1677 Barrow Serm. Wks. 1716 II. 143 We who are placed in the top of nature. 1699 Locke Educ. (ed. 4) §70. 104 Take a Boy from the top of a Grammar-School. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia iv. x, I thought to have seen him at the top of the tree, as one may say! 1879 B. Taylor Stud. Germ. Lit. 136 The medieval passion for song began at the top and worked downwards. 1885 W. S. Gilbert Mikado 1, I'm right at the top of the school. 1908 Times 3 Aug. 11/6 Brilliancy and determination..brought them to the top of the tree. 1973 L. Heren Growing up Poor in London vi. 163 The first flashes were coming through on the attempt to get an abandoned ship in tow somewhere in the Atlantic... The story rated a top. 1979 ‘A. Hailey’ Overload i. iv. 23 On the radio,..a news bulletin. The item Nim had been waiting for was at the top.

b. One who or that which occupies the highest or chief position; the head (of a clan, family, etc.); also spec. in Journalism: cf. sense 14 a.

1612 Day Festivals ii. (1615) 27 Adam the Top of our Kin. 1646 J. Gregory Notes & Obs. (1650) 30 Muazzus the Toppe of the Fatimæan family, caused the City of Gran Cairo to be set up. 1695 J. Edwards Perfect. Script. 332 Lastly man, the top and glory of the creatures. 1741 Betterton Eng. Stage vi. 116 He looks upon himself as the Top of his Family. 1856 Lever Martins of Cro' M. xxxviii, They barred out the master to make ‘the head usher’ top of the school. 1960 R. St. John Foreign Correspondent x. 195, I..dictated a new ‘top’ for Sunday papers.

c. ellipt. for top sergeant, sense 34 below. U.S. Mil. slang.

1898 E. H. Blatchford Let. 30 July (1920) 53 The ‘top’ said he wanted us to sign the pay-roll and be back at ten to-night. 1930 T. Fredenburgh Soldiers March! ii. 12 The Top says he'll pass the word along. 1970 W. Just Military Men iii. 95 Don't worry, Top.

15. a. The highest pitch or degree; the height, summit, zenith, pinnacle; now esp. in the top of one's bent (see bent n.² 9), the top of one's voice, and at the top of one's form (form n. 16 a).

1552 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. xvi. 294 What thyng at the first can atteyne to the toppe of perfectnesse. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 383 From my lowest Note, to the top of my Compasse. 1602–1875 [see bent n.² 9]. 1671 Milton Samson 167 By how much from the top of wondrous glory,..To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fall'n. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 32 ¶2 High Shoulders, as well as high Noses, were the Top of the Fashion. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 195 Let him be kept to the Top of his Speed. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet i. iv, All the drivers were swearing at each other at the top of their voices. 1933 A. Powell From View to Death iii. 89 It had come at a time when he was not feeling at the top of his form. 1947 L. P. Hartley Eustace & Hilda vii. 138, I can't pretend that she was at the top of her form.

b. One who or that which is or represents the highest pitch or degree; the most perfect example or type of something. (The constr. in quot. 1682 is obs. and rare.)

1593 Queen Elizabeth Boeth. 80 All such referd to greatest good, as to the top of Natures best. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 570 His goodnesse, bountie, grace, and fauour towardes vs, which is the toppe of happinesse. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. ii. 76 If he, which is the top of Iudgement, should But iudge you, as you are. 1682 Dryden Mac Fl. 167 But write thy best and top; and in each line Sir Formal's oratory will be thine. 1711 Hickes Two Treat. Chr. Priesth. (1847) II. 297 The episcopate is the top of all the honours among men. 1885–6 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxxx. 8 Redemption is the top of covenant blessings.

c. (absol. use of top as adj.: see 28–31). Motoring slang. The top or highest gear; esp. in(to) top (formerly also on (the) top).

1906 Westm. Gaz. 21 Aug. 4/2 It was only found necessary twice during the journey to change to the second speed, most of the run being done on the ‘top’. 1909 Ibid. 30 Nov. 5/2 In this machine the driving is..always done on top. 1925 Morris Owner's Man. 10 When changing gear up from first to second, or second to top, the clutch pedal should be pressed down. 1932 S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm xvi. 217 They heard him change into top. 1953 [see change v. 6 d]. 1958 [see gear n. 7 b]. 1970 N. Fleming Czech Point (1971) viii. 107 Melanie rammed the car into top and kept up the acceleration.

d. Bridge. (a) Either of the two highest cards of a suit; (b) the best score made in the play of a particular hand.

1929 M. C. Work Compl. Contract Bridge Gloss. 246 Tops, Aces and Kings. 1945 ‘S. J. Simon’ Why you lose at Bridge ix. 103 As the Clubs didn't break, and he took the Heart finesse to try and save something from the wreck, he went six down. A cold top for us. 1958 Listener 23 Oct. 669/2 To ask whether, at match points, East-West should try for Seven Hearts is like asking whether a golfer should play for a birdie or a bogey: it all depends on the state of the game. If they need a ‘top’ they take the chance. 1977 Hongkong Standard 12 Apr. 10/3 Romik was able to claim all 13 tricks for an outright ‘top’ on the hand.

16. The highest point reached in a progression or series; the culminating point; esp. in the top of high water, top of the tide; top of the market, the moment at which prices are highest.

a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1850) I. 341 Grevous to the people, now in top of harvest. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 299 It was just at the Top of High-Water when these People came on Shore. 1759 Dilworth Pope 131 The hackney scribblers seizing the top of the market, had quite run down the subject. 1801 Naval Chron. VI. 76 At the top of the tide she turned off the stocks. 1899 S. MacManus Chimney Corners 168 They'll insure me the top of the market.

(b) In fig. phr. on top of the world, at the peak of well-being, prosperity, or elation; hence top of the world attrib. phr. (also with hyphens).

c 1920 D. Hammett in W. F. Nolan Dashiell Hammett (1969) ii. 19 A Samuels diamond puts you on top of the world! 1930 Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves! ix. 226 If ever a bird was sitting on top of the world, that bird was Bingo. 1946 E. S. Gardner Case of Borrowed Brunette xi. 132 This time Gulling, with this new evidence making him feel he's sitting on top of the world, slapped my proposition right back in my face. 1962 D. Francis Dead Cert vii. 79 His eyes were alight with that fantastic, top-of-the-world elation. 1978 D. Devine Sunk without Trace v. 51 Last time I spoke to Liz she was on top of the world. 1979 Guardian 12 Jan. 9/8 As Colt's say in their publicity handout: ‘This top of the world feeling can now be reproduced in a factory, office or shop.’

17. a. The best or choicest part; the cream, flower, pick. Now esp. in the top of the morning, as an Irish morning greeting (cf. 13).

1663 Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xiv. (1687) 96 A conjunction of the very top and flower of the mind with the beginning and original of all good. 1668 Bp. Hopkins Serm., Vanity (1685) 99 The soul, next to angels, is the very top and cream of the whole creation. 1757 W. Thompson R.N. Advoc. 44 Which their..Friends, the top of the Physical Faculty can verify. 1815 Scott Guy M. iv, The top of the morning to you, sir. 1843 Lever J. Hinton lviii, Captain, my darling, the top of the morning to you! 1894 Westm. Gaz. 10 Apr. 2/3 A ‘top of the basket’ young lady, like Lady Anne, would have been married long before the curtain rises.

b. spec. pl. (a) The best sheep or lambs in a flock.

1831 Sutherland Farm Rep. 80 in Libr. Usef. Knowl. Husb. III, The tops (the most choice and best breed) possess the outskirts of the ewe herding. 1886 C. Scott Sheep-Farming 19 When a lot of sheep are drafted, they are assorted. The best lot are called ‘tops’.

(b) Members of the highest social class.

1887 Pall Mall G. 24 Aug. 11/1 Here..were given the dances when a party of London ‘Tops’ were invited to spend the Christmas holidays or to enjoy a week's shooting.

1906 J. Patterson Wamphray vii. 193 It threshes, separates ‘tops from tails’, bags each separately, and bundles the straw.

(d) In gen. colloq. use (predicatively): the best. Freq. with the. orig. U.S.

1935 Motion Picture Nov. 41/1 Top Hat is tops—it has everything! 1937 R. Stout Red Box xv. 249 Your conversation is an intellectual and esthetic delight. It's the tops. 1942 N. Streatfeild I ordered Table for Six 243 He didn't go near your mother until he was the tops, so to speak. 1948 C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident 94 Toppy is tops at spur-of-the-moment tactics. 1958 Punch 9 July 44/3 Cooney's Cassocks stand the test, Choosy Churchmen say they're best. Sure-fire sermons, never flops; Cooney's Cassocks are the tops. 1976 ‘W. Trevor’ Children of Dynmouth i. 36 ‘You're easily tops, lad,’ Hughie Green was enthusing, putting an arm round his shoulder. 1979 L. Meynell Hooky & Villainous Chauffeur i. 14, I always looked up to him... I just thought he was the tops.

18. Particle Physics. [An arbitrary choice of name.] The name of (a quark carrying) a possible sixth flavour, with a charge of +²/₃. Freq. attrib.

1977 Sci. Amer. Oct. 74/2 The new quarks will apparently be called ‘top’ and ‘bottom’, the names being meant to suggest properties surpassing those of the up and down quarks found in ordinary matter. 1978 Nature 2 Feb. 407/2 Similarly if top quarks exist then ‘naked top’—or ‘topless’ states will eventually be found. The prudish may care to note that t and b are said to stand for truth and beauty, rather than top and bottom, by some physicists. It is predicted that..top decays to bottom. 1980 J. S. Trefil From Atoms to Quarks xii. 184 As I write (spring 1979), there is no evidence to indicate that particles made from a top quark have been seen. 1982 Sci. Amer. Mar. 64/2 The member of the top family that should be easiest to identify would be made up of a top quark bound to a top antiquark. 1984 Nature 12 July 97/1 Last week, the 80-strong collaboration..announced the discovery of the missing sixth quark, called top. Ibid. 97/3 The discovery of the top quark. Ibid., The discovery of top.

V. Applied to actions.
19. The action of top v.¹; the putting of a top on something; top-up, a finish or conclusion. rare.

1883 Three in Norway 146 He thought this a grand top-up for a successful day.

20. Forward spin imparted to a ball by the mode of its impulsion or delivery (in billiards, by striking it above the centre; hence in cricket and tennis). Cf. topside d, and top-twist in 34.

1901 Westm. Gaz. 13 Aug. 2/3 A vertical twist given by friction against the ground analogous with ‘top’ on a billiard ball. 1903 H. G. Hutchinson Cricket iv. 88 A ball..which..is simply propelled with a large quantity of ‘top on’. 1907 C. B. Fry in Daily Chron. 18 July 7/2 Schwarz's off-break, being produced by a perversion of leg-break action, contains an inordinate amount of ‘top’.

† 21. Dice-play. A cheating trick in which one of the dice was retained at the top of the box.

1709 Tatler No. 68 ¶5 There is lately broke loose from the London Pack, a very tall dangerous Biter... His Manner of Biting is new, and called the Top. 1711 Puckle Club 22 note, Supposing both box and dice fair, gamesters have the top, the peep, eclipse, thumbing.

VI. Phrases.
22. a. at, on top: see prec. senses and quots.; fig. supreme; dominant; on (the) top of, (a) above, upon, close upon, following upon; in addition to; (b) too close to; esp. on top of one another, in crowded conditions; (c) burdensome to, too much for; to get on top of: to overwhelm, harass, depress; (d) in control of. Also († in), upon (the) top of = on (the) top of (a).

1602 Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 355 Little Yases, that crye out on the top of question. Ibid. 459 Others, whose iudgement in such matters, cried in the top of mine. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 394 Hee was vpon the top of his marriage. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters II. 125 With this inscription, at top. 1796 F. Burney Camilla II. 62 One thing heaped o'top of t'other. 1824 M. Wilmot Let. 5 Feb. (1935) 207, I came home hungry, took some hot tea on the top of a cold ice which I got there, got an indigestion. 1886 St. Stephen's Rev. 13 Mar. 11/2 Two heavy falls in a week, and a bad cold on the top of them. 1898 N. Gould Landed at Last iv, This year I fancy I shall be on top with my pair of brothers. 1903 Farmer & Henley Slang s.v., To come out on top, to be successful. 1911 Marett Anthropol. ii. 43 On top of the Wealden dome. 1947 A. L. Rowse Tudor Cornwall xvi. 434 There was little privacy, for they lived on top of one another. 1952 Chambers's Jrnl. May 267/1 Our work consisted, mainly, in safeguarding road convoys from attack by hostile tribesmen. By no stretch of the imagination could it have been termed exhausting, but it was always on top of you. 1952 M. Allingham Tiger in Smoke x. 167 This time there was..no faltering. He was on top of himself and them. 1955 ― Beckoning Lady iv. 55 None of us saw her until she was right on top of us. 1962 B. Cobb Murder: Men Only ix. 109 Oh, Kitty, it's Thursday and I know we agreed, but how? With everything on top of me. 1965 New Society 11 Nov. 7/1 People..do not necessarily want to live ‘on top of each other’. 1968 Listener 4 July 5/1 On top of all this there are the continuing constitutional negotiations. 1974 A. Morice Killing with Kindness ii. 21, I didn't mean to be rude. It's all got so much on top of me that I don't know what I'm saying half the time. 1977 M. Allen Spence in Petal Park xxxiii. 158 He still lives in Downsea. Near enough for me to babysit but not so close that we're on top of him. 1977 ‘A. York’ Tallant for Trouble vi. 87 He really felt he was getting on top of the situation. 1981 Sunday Express Mag. 2 Aug./33 Lord Mackan has had a busy programme of special ceremonial events on top of his normal Household chores.

b. at the top: in a position of power or authority. Cf. sense 14 and room at the top s.v. room n.¹ 2 a.

1936 G. B. Shaw Millionairess i. 145 That's what keeps him at the top in the city. 1962 J. Braine (title) Life at the top. 1979 A. Fox Threat Warning Red iii. 41 The machines..hadn't made life easier at the top.

c. over the top, beyond reasonable limits, too far, into exaggeration.

1968 C. Watson Charity ends at Home x. 129 For instance, you said at our first interview that your wife got so worked up about some things that she was in danger of going ‘over the top’, as you put it. 1974 Times 6 Mar. 2/8 We agreed to give every possible support to the Labour Government, including not going over the top with wage claims. 1981 ‘D. Jordan’ Double Red i. 11, I could summon less and less response to Magnus's more rhetorical flights: so here we are, going over the top again, I was thinking.

23. a. († in), on, upon one's top, attacking or assailing one, esp. from a superior position; ‘coming down upon one’, ‘about one's ears’. So never off one's top. † in tops with, in or into conflict or antagonism with. Now chiefly Sc.

1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxiii. 249 He..suffered for a season, leste he hadde brought all in his toppe atones. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 137 Euery man is in my toppe [omnibus sum infestus]. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 125 b, To styre vp cruell warres, and set one in an others toppe. 1570 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 8 Strait wais M. Nevil was on mi top. a 1658 J. Durham Expos. Rev. xi. 2 (1680) 416 Fear to come in tops with this Word; it is a sword with two edges. 1680 Archd. Aleson in Cloud of Witnesses (1810) 46 Ye have Kirk and State upon your top. 1710 J. Wilson in Calderwood Dying Test. (1806) 155 Who would have thought that those builders..would have so soon flown upon one anothers tops? 1825 Jamieson s.v. Tap, To be on one's tap, to assault, literally; especially by flying at one's head, or attempting to get hold of the hair. 1888 in Scott. Leader 3 May 5/1 It's a most singular thing that Bailie Lawson is always on my top about paltry things of that sort.

b. off the top of one's head and varr., impromptu, without consideration, superficially; hence top-of-the-head attrib. phr.

1939 H. L. Ickes Secret Diary (1954) II. 718 He was impetuous and inclined to think off the top of his head at times. 1959 ‘E. McBain’ 'Til Death xiii. 169 The jokes..took on an ad lib quality, each prankster..coming up with top-of-the-head advice on the proper hotel-room behaviour. 1967 Listener 20 Apr. 518/2 His [sc. Bertrand Russell's] political activities..are not something that is coming out of the top of his head, they are coming from his nature. 1972 J. Ripley My Word you should have seen Us 159 You're talking out of the top of your head, mac. 1977 W. J. Bate Samuel Johnson (1978) xi. 173 London..seems breezy, as if written off the top of the head..; it lacks the sublime moral elevation of the Vanity. 1981 C. Dexter Dead of Jericho xxviii. 160 A bit of bread-and-butter investigation was worth a good deal more than some of that top-of-the-head stuff.

24. top..bottom. a. top to bottom (also bottom to top), so that the highest part becomes the lowest; with complete inversion. b. from top to bottom = from top to toe (26). c. top or bottom = top or tail (25 b). d. top and bottom, (a) = top and tail, 25 a (a); (b) short for at top and bottom (of table).

[a 1250 Owl & Night. 1328 Of clerkes lore top ne more [= root]. a 1250 see 3.] 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. ii. iii. (1651) 245 Turned.. top to bottom, or bottom to top. 1666 Pepys Diary 10 June, The management..was bad from top to bottom. 1887 S. Cheshire Gloss. s.v., ‘That's the top an' the bottom on it’ corresponds to ‘that is the long and the short of it’.

25. top..tail. a. top and tail (also † tail and top). (a) The whole, everything without exception, every part. (b) The long and short of it, the substance, upshot (also the top, tail, and mane). (c) advb. From head to foot, from beginning to end; all over. (d) Bottom upwards, topsy-turvy (now dial.). b. top or tail, also top, tail, or mane (root), (in negative statements), any part; anything definite or intelligible; head or tail. c. from top to tail = top and tail (c); also fig. wholly, absolutely.

1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 5416 Þarfor shul þey..Go to helle, both top and tayle. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame ii. 371 (Fairf. MS.) Toppe and taylle and euery del..euery word that spoken ys. c 1440 York Myst. xxxi. 193 Tell hyme fro toppe vnto tayle. 1550 Bale Apol. 106 b, It is in the whole, toppe and tayle, length and bredth, begynnynge and endynge. 1558 T. Phaer æneid v. N j b, Headlong down in dust he ouerturnyd tayle and topp. 1727 P. Walker Remark. Passages (1827) 212 His Sermon had neither Top, Tail, nor Mane. 1822 Carlyle Early Lett. (1886) II. 32 They will..make neither ‘top, tail, nor root out of it’. 1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd lvi, The top and tail o't is this. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. s.v., The pony put his foot in a rabbit's hole and proper turned top-on-tail.

d. top over tail, app. an inversion of tail over top (which also occurs: cf. head over heels, head n.¹ 46): upside down, topsy-turvy. Also attrib. Chiefly north. dial.

c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 70 Into þe waise þam fro he tombled top ouer taile. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 16727 He bar him tayl ouer top, That he lay ther as a sop. 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 3744 Bot this fals world is turnit top ouir taill. 1786 Pogonologia 6 The Culbute (the flying-top-over-tail hoop). 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd 200 Cam tumblin' tap-owr-tail. 1881 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Top o'er tail, head over heels—completely over.

26. top..toe. a. from top to († into, † unto) toe, from head to foot, in every part; also fig. from beginning to end, throughout, entirely.

[a 1225 Juliana 59 Ouer al & from þe top to þe tan.] c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxiii. (Sleperis) 121 Malchus..tald þame fra tope to ta Quhow decius þame socht to sla. c 1425 Cast. Persev. 615 in Macr. Plays 95, I holde þee trewe ffro top to þe too. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 241 b, Thou art made abhominable from the toppe of [? to] the too. 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde Prol. B ij, I..reuisying from top to too the sayde booke. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 267 After this follow fifteene other most faire Camels,..couered from top to toe with Silke. 1718 Mrs. Delany in Life & Corr. (1861) I. 45 Top-a-Toe, my dear Niece, Your most affectionate, Faithful, humble servant, Lansdowne. 1887 Lowell Democr. 87 English from top to toe.

† b. neither top nor toe, no part or vestige; = top nor tail (see 25 b). Obs. rare^—1.

1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 269 there stood in old time a citie, but now neither top nor toe, as they say, remaineth of it.

    VII. Combinations and collocations.
    * attrib. uses, passing into adjective in 28–31.
    27. Having a top, fitted with a top, as top-buggy, top-phaeton, top-stocking, top-wagon; top-ship (see 35).

1849 Knickerbocker XXXIV. 266 An ordinary ‘*top-buggy’ wagon. 1866 ‘Mark Twain’ Lett. from Hawaii (1967) 45 His ‘turnout’, as he calls a top buggy that Captain Cook brought here in 1778. 1894 Howells in Harper's Mag. Feb. 381 Grocers don't drive round in top-buggies.

1898 ― Open-eyed Conspir. 52 Buoyant *top-phaetons and surreys, with their light-limbed horses.

1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2126/4 Light-coloured *Top-Stockings striped with black.

1852 C. A. Bristed Upper Ten Thousand 208, I have a *top-wagon. 1880 W. Whitman Daybks. & Notebks. (1978) III. 639 Many queer old one-horse top-wagons. 1884 Roe Nat. Ser. Story x, He hastened to harness Thunder to his light top-wagon. (See also top-boot.)

28. Of or pertaining to the top, belonging to the top; situated, placed, or growing at or on the top of something; topmost, upper, uppermost. Now usually written separate as adj.

1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, v. ii. 14 Whose top-branch ouerpeer'd Ioues spreading Tree. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 225 Nero..got first of all to the top-turret of all this enormity. c 1611 Chapman Iliad xx. 211 These twice-six colts had pace so swift, they ran Upon the top-ayles of corn-ears, nor bent them any whit. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. lxxvii. (1674) 99 If they fall to cut down the top-boughs. 1676 Moxon Print. Lett. 6 The Top-line is the line that bounds the top of the Ascending Letters. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 139 An Herb whose top Leaves are a Sallet of themselves. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 91 It is proper for a top dish at night, or a side dish for dinner. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 34 Advantages in carrying top-loads. 1827 H. Steuart Planter's G. (1828) 328 The topshoots of the former year will inevitably be cut down. 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. i. vii, A five pound fish.. had snapped off the top-joint of his four guinea rod. 1851 Mrs. Browning Casa Guidi Wind. i. 700 How..we may..as we reach Our own grapes, bend the top vines to supply The children's uses. 1865 Sat. Rev. 21 Jan. 80/2 the want of protection of the top-shifts against fire. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1465/2 A crowning molding is a top member. 1888 H. Morten Sk. Hosp. Life 46 There were two doors on the top landing. 1904 J. Sweeney At Scotl. Yard v. 110 The carriages..passed..along the top side, passing out at the left hand top corner. 1906 Athenæum 15 Dec. 777/3 A top stop was equivalent to a stop..in the upper focal plane of the objective. Mod. The top end of the tube is sealed.

29. Forming or constituting the top, or the exterior surface, or layer; upper, outer.
Now usually separate, as in prec. sense.

1603 Florio Montaigne ii. xii. (1632) 275 A light stroke that dooth scarce the top-skin wound. 1634–5 Brereton Trav. (Chetham) 96 They cutt and flea top-turves with linge upon them. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 384 Take away some of the Top exhausted Earth. 1838 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 97/2 Walls of rubble,..which support a top covering of flat stones. 1874 Crookes Dyeing & Calico-Print 526 Putting a top bloom on blacks. 1879 B. Taylor Stud. Germ. Lit. 38 Hollow spaces cut in the top-slab of his tombstone. 1883 R. Haldane Workshop Receipts Ser. ii. 236/2 Aniline colours..are now usefully employed as top colours..brushed in very dilute solution over vegetable colours. 1891 Daily News 11 July 5/4 Top milk and bottom milk have been proved to be practically the same. 1912 Nation 10 Feb. 779/2 Good farming increases the humus or productive ‘top spit’ of the land.

30. First in rank, order, or quality; principal, chief, most eminent, best; of high standing. See also top people n. pl.

1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. vi. 22 Bishops, who are now..the very top-flowers of wisdom and learning. 1649 Roberts Clavis Bibl. 292 The flourishing or Top-glory of Israels Kingdome under K. Solomon. 1657 Austen Fruit Trees ii. 45 This is the top priviledg of beleivers. 1697 Collier Immor. Stage iv. (1698) 242 These Sparks generally marry the Top-ladies. 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 73 The Top Nation of all that Part of the World for Bravery. 1713 Steele Englishman No. 40. 261 When they grow up, Dancing is the top Accomplishment. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Physiognomy, The top modern authors on physiognomy. 1733 Swift Let. to Pope 2 Apr., They are certainly the top wits of the Court. 1750 R. Pococke Trav. (Camden) I. 50 One of their top merchants. 1774 J. Hawley in J. Adams' Wks. IX. 345 Our top Tories here give out..that he will certainly be taken up before the Congress. 1794 Godwin Cal. Williams 291 Regarded as the top gentry of the place. 1819 Keats Let. in Daily Chron. 26 Mar. (1904) 9/2 Fine writing is, next to fine doings, the top thing in the world. c 1926 [see running vbl. n. 2 e (b)]. 1936 Publishers' Weekly 21 Nov. 1965/2 Publishers involved in recent top-seller crises. 1938 E. Ambler Cause for Alarm xiii. 213 The prisons would be overflowing..and most of the top men would be with them. 1939 Supervision Feb. 1/1 The whole related circle which reaches from top management down to the worker. 1945 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 25 Oct. 12/1 The A-bomb has aroused so much interest a complex technical tome on that subject is now a top-seller. 1958 Observer 3 Aug. 5/1 Grouse-shooting, it must be conceded, is the top sport. 1965 Mod. Law Rev. XXVIII. v. 587 Corporations, seemingly, will be liable for the acts and omissions of ‘top management’. 1972 L. Deighton Close-Up viii. 166 They are going to spend a hundred thousand dollars just on this one story. They'll get a top outside photographer to do it. 1981 R. Samuel East End Underworld xi. 133 Cockney Cohen was the favourite; he was regarded as the top man of the two [boxers]. 1982 Lakeland Echo 18 Mar. 6/7 Peter Frankl was going to play there..on May 1, and other top performers were lined up for the future.

31. Highest (in degree), greatest (in amount); very high, very great; also in weakened sense, first-rate, tip-top, excellent.

1714 G. Lockhart Mem. Scot. 229 Obliged to go off at a top Gallop. 1736 Duchess of Portland in Mrs. Delany's Life & Corr. (1861) I. 563 The Speaker was in top good humour. 1769 Lady M. Coke Jrnl. 6 Aug., The Duchess..said she was in a top sweat. a 1774 Fergusson Caller Oysters xi, The fisher-wives will get top livin. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life xviii. xii, His common trot is just a match for your top speed. 1872 Michie Deeside Tales v. 49 He reached the house ‘in a top sweat’. 1894 Lit. World 13 Apr. 341/2 One [who] commands ‘top prices’ for serial rights. 1902 Daily Chron. 20 Dec. 7/5 Half a dozen hounds went at top pace towards Tugby.

** Locative, etc., combinations.
32. In sense ‘at or to the top’, as top-draining, top lacing, top-pruning; top-dry, top-feeding, top-filled, top-ironed, top-laden, top-loose, top-opening, top-shackled, top-tempestuous, top-turned adjs. See also top-dress, top-full, top-hamper, top-heavy, topknot, etc.

1860 Worcester, *Top-draining, the act or the practice of draining the surface of land.

1933 Sun (Baltimore) 20 Apr. 5/6 Some 200,000 of the American *top-feeding minnow species Gambusia were dumped into some of the ponds.

c 1611 Chapman Iliad xvi. 219 From a coffer..*top-fild with vests; warme robes to checke cold wind. 1691 tr. Emilianne's Observ. Journ. Naples 104 The Treasuries of their Churches are top fill'd with these kind of precious Relicks.

1910 Daily Chron. 12 Jan. 5/7 One with perfect nailing, beautifully executed, *top-ironed, and with exquisitely finished edging.

1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald Great Gatsby i. 8 He seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the *top lacing.

1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. iii, There, *topladen,..rolls in the country Baron and his household.

1887 Pall Mall G. 28 June 6/1 On each side of the hall are aisles, *top-lighted. 1905 Daily Chron. 17 May 8/5 Private offices are arranged along the back and top-lighted.

1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. U ij b, This being *Toploose, gives more Liberty for the cutting thereof than the taking of a whole Roof.

1926–7 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 409/2 *Top-opening handbag. 1963 Which? 6 Feb. 36/1 The chest top-opening freezer.

1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 343 Ringing..may often serve as a substitute both for root pruning and *top pruning.

1612 N. Field Woman a Weathercock iii. ii. E iv, Oh good old woman, she is *topshackeld.

1632 Lithgow Trav. (1906) 346 Like to a halfe ballast ship tottering on *top-tempestuous waves.

1902 Westm. Gaz. 5 July 2/3 Black crowns Of wind-worn pines..*top-turned by gales that weighed Them eastward.

33. In sense ‘highest or first’. a. With nouns forming attrib. phr., as top class, top quality, top rank, etc. See also top drawer, flight, sense 34 below.

1948 J. Towster Political Power in U.S.S.R. iii. xiii. 318 ‘Stakhanovites’, that is, top-efficiency workers. 1950 N.Y. Times 20 Apr. 1/3 Virtually every top bracket job..could be filled from the proposed register. 1950 Times 23 May 5/6 Time and again one reads..of top grade British films which will never be shown here at all. 1953 Newsweek 30 Mar. 81/2 Higgins-built mine sweepers..became the top-priority ships on the Navy's program. 1959 Times 29 Oct. 2/2 Position calls for top-calibre executive with experience of marketing. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 9 Feb. 74/3 These..would only be interested in top-quality products tailor-made to suit their demand. 1960 Times 12 July 13/4 It isn't only the field events that are a poor show at top-class athletics meetings. 1961 Lancet 9 Sept. 598/1 We have very few top-rate managers. 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File i. 15 It makes eight top rank Disappearances in..six and a half weeks. 1972 J. Aiken Butterfly Picnic x. 190 [He] is doing forty years in a top-security prison for handing over state secrets. 1973 Country Life 29 Nov. 1773/1 No champagne is made exclusively from top-price grapes. 1975 G. St. George Proteus Pact i. 36 An urgent matter, a top-priority project. 1977 National Observer (U.S.) 8 Jan. 7/1 They conclude that there are no significant differences in intellectual and social development between young children reared at home and those placed in a top-quality day⁓care center. 1978 K. Hudson Jargon of Professions v. 122 X is a top-class product manager because his father and mother were top-class product managers. 1979 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts July 504/2 Something should be done to encourage a really efficient and top-grade display of arts and crafts. 1982 Lakeland Echo 18 Mar. 6/4 Special attention has been paid to acoustics and lighting so that really top-rank artistes can be persuaded to play there.

b. Adverbially with adjs. or ppl. adjs., as top-ranking, top-rated, top-secret, etc.

1936 Time 19 Oct. 67/1 Adapting a story which is to be played by four top-ranking film personalities. 1944 Top secret [see classified ppl. a. c]. 1946 Koestler Thieves in Night 194 Turning to the urgent blue and so to the top-urgent red tray. 1958 People 4 May 19/7 Top-rated American Davey Moore said yes. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 22 Mar. 83/3 Top-priced bull at Hereford last week was Haven Possible. 1962 Guardian 13 July 8/1 Drambuie..ranks with Benedictine and Cointreau among the world's five top-selling digestifs. 1975 Listener 17 July 69/1 Top-paid people should agree to limit their incomes. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 16 June 3-c/2 The victory by the third-rated Hurons left top-rated Arizona State one defeat from elimination. 1976 Scotsman 25 Nov. 14/5 A commercial paper nowadays would have to be less ‘Left-of-centre’..to be read by the top-earning businessmen and stockbrokers who justify expensive advertising. 1976 H. Wilson Governance of Britain iv. 92 The Churchill and Macmillan appointees inevitably had the same access to secret and top-secret documents as any civil service appointee. 1978 N.Y. Times 30 Mar. d22/1 In a postponed first-round match, top seeded Vitas Gerulaitis..defeated Ray Moore. 1978 Observer (Colour Suppl.) 9 Apr. 30 These two were ‘top rankin'’ gunmen in the ghetto for Jamaica's two main political parties. 1980 Washington Star 17 Dec. e2/6 Mississippi State jumped into national prominence with its big win over top-ranked Alabama.

    *** Special combinations and collocations.
    34. In general senses of top.
    (When top is adjectival, properly without hyphen.)
    top banana Theatr. slang (chiefly U.S.), the leading comic in a burlesque entertainment; also fig.; top-beam = collar-beam 1; top-binder, ? a branch serving to bind the upper part of a hedge; top-block: see quot. (see also 35 b); top board Chess, the principal player of a team in a tournament; top box, on a motor-cycle, a carrier box for baggage, etc., placed on top of the cycle behind the saddle (as opp. to panniers at the sides); top brass: see brass n. 2 e; top breadth, the breadth of the ship at the level of the top-timbers; top-breadth line, a line in a plan showing the longitudinal curve of the ship's side at the level of the top-timbers; top-button, † (a) a metal button of which the top or face is gilt or silvered; (b) an ornamental knob on the top of a mast; top-card Spinning, a flat strip of wood covered with hooked teeth set over the drum of a carding-engine; top-cast [cast n. 18] = top-swarm; top coal, an important seam, which in the southern part of the Shropshire coalfield is the topmost; top-coat, (a) overcoat, great-coat, outer coat; (b) any of the finishing layers of paint applied after undercoat; hence top-coated a.; top-contact, contact at the top or upper surface; top copy, the original typescript of a document, of which the under-sheets are carbon copies; also ellipt.; top-crop, (a) see top-fruit; (b) Mining, an outcrop; top-cross Horse-breeding, a cross in which one parent is of pure or superior blood (U.S.); top-cut, reduction of the strength of the higher-frequency components of a signal; top cutter U.S. Mil. slang = top sergeant below; top cymbal Mus. = ride cymbal s.v. ride n.¹ 7; top dead centre (see quot. 1978); top deck: see deck n.¹ 3 d; top dog, lit. the dog uppermost or ‘on top’ in a fight; fig. the victorious or dominant party; top dollar N. Amer. colloq., a high price; top-down a., (a) Computers, working from the top or root of a tree towards the branches (with or without backtracking); (b) that proceeds from the top downwards; authoritarian, hierarchical; occas. as adv.; (c) (of planning or design) starting with the overall structure and going on to successively more detailed parts of it; top drawer, the upper-most drawer in a cabinet or the like; also fig., freq. with reference to social standing; also attrib. or as adj., first-class, of the highest level; top-drive Mech. = top-gear (b); Top End Austral. colloq., the Northern Territory of Australia; hence Top-Ender; top fermentation Brewing, a process in which the yeast rises to the surface during fermentation; top flask Founding, the upper part of a moulder's flask when made in two parts; the ‘cope’ when a ‘drag’ is used (Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909); top-flat Spinning = top-card, flat C. 8 d (Knight Dict. Mech. 1877); top flight, the highest rank or peak of excellence; also attrib. or as adj.; hence top-flighter; top-fruit, fruit growing on trees, as distinct from bush-fruit and ground-fruit (strawberries, etc.); top-fuller, a top-tool having a narrow rounded edge (Knight 1877); top-gear, (a) the rigging, sails, and spars of a ship; (b) (without hyphen) in power transmission, the alternative gearing which produces the highest speed in proportion to that of the motor; also fig., a fast pace, full speed; top-graft v. trans. (Horticulture) = top-work vb. below; hence top-grafting vbl. n.; top hand N. Amer. colloq., a cowboy who is an experienced or first-rate ranch-worker; also fig.; top-hard (coal): see quot. 1834–5, and cf. top coal; top-head Mining: see quot.; top-heat Horticulture, heat generated in a frame or greenhouse; cf. bottom heat s.v. bottom n. 20; top-hole, (a) Mining, = top-head; (b) = top-notch; attrib. first-rate, ‘tip-top’ (slang); † top-honours nonce-use, the topsails of a ship, in reference to the custom of lowering them in token of respect; top-house Naut., a deck-house; top iron, the upper iron in a carpenter's plane, adjusted so as to stiffen the cutter and turn up the shavings; the break-iron; top kick U.S. Mil. slang = top sergeant below; also top kicker; top-land, high or elevated land, highland; top-latch dial., the strap or thong used to fasten the hames together at the top; top lift, (a) [lift n.² 5], the uppermost working in a cutting, etc.; (b) the external layer of a boot or shoe heel; see also 35 a; top light, a pane of glass affording illumination from overhead; a skylight; hence top-lighted, top-lit adjs.; top-loader, (a) Lumbering, one who works at the top of a load of logs (N. Amer.); (b) a machine or device designed to be loaded from the top; opp. front-loader s.v. front n. (and a.) 14; hence top-loading vbl. n.; top minnow, a small, often brightly coloured, fish belonging to the family Cyprinodontidæ or Poeciliidæ; top notch, the highest notch; fig. the highest point attainable; also attrib. first-rate, ‘tip-top’; hence ˈtop-ˈnotcher, a first-rate person or thing, a ‘tip-topper’; top note, the highest note in a singer's compass; also fig.; top of the bill Theatr., the chief place on a bill of entertainment; also (with hyphens) attrib. and fig. (cf. to top the bill s.v. top v.¹ 16 a); top-of-the-line a. (chiefly U.S.), designating a commercially produced commodity that is the best, most expensive or luxurious, etc., of its kind; top of the milk, the cream that rises to the top of milk when left undisturbed; top of the pops: see pop a. (n.⁸) 1 b; top-onion, the Canada or tree onion (Allium Cepa proliferum), bearing a cluster of small green bulbs at the top of the stem, instead of flowers and seed; top plate, the back plate of a watch-movement; top-proud a., proud to the highest degree; top-rail Carpentry: see quot. 1823 (also 35 b); top-rider Shipbuilding: see quot.; † top-right a. nonce-wd., upright, erect; top rock Coal-mining, the uppermost stratum of (hard) rock; top-roll, some part of a bridle-bit; top saw, the upper of a pair of circular saws, cutting down to meet the kerf of the lower; top-score v. intr. (Cricket), to make the greatest number of runs of an innings; hence top scorer; topscript [nonce-wd. after postscript], something written at the top of a letter; top sergeant U.S. Mil. slang, first sergeant; top-set n., the top section of a vein of ore, which has sections of different width at different depths; top-set a., set or deposited at the top, or above something else; in Mining and Geol., spec. of a bed, layer, or stratum; top-sew v., trans. to hem by oversewing; top shelf, the uppermost and least accessible shelf; also attrib. in fig. expressions: (a) as in top-shelf book, a book seldom used, or that is to be kept out of the way; (b) first-rate; cf. top-notch; hence ˈtop-ˈshelfer, a person or thing of the highest class; top-slicing vbl. n., (a) Mining, a method of working in which successive slices up to 12 feet thick are mined from the top of an ore body, working downwards, the material overlying each slice being made to cave after its completion; so top-slice v. trans., to work in this way; (b) a method of assessing income- or surtax chargeable on a lump sum by averaging it out over the years for which it has accrued and charging tax accordingly; top-soil n., the (cultivatable) surface layer of the soil, as distinct from the subsoil; in Archæol., the soil covering a site being investigated; top-soil v., to pare off the top soil; top soldier U.S. Mil. slang = top sergeant above; top-spin = overspin n.; see also sense 20; also fig.; top-spinner = overspinner s.v. overspin n.; also top-spun a.; top-stitch v. trans., to make a row of stitches on (the right side of a garment or other piece of sewn work), usu. as a form of decoration; so top-stitched ppl. a.; top-stitching vbl. n.; top storey, the uppermost storey of a house; fig. the head as the seat of intellect; also attrib.; top-string dial. = top-latch; top-swarm Sc. and north. dial., the first swarm of the season thrown off by a hive of bees; also fig.; hence top-swarmer; top table, at a formal dinner, the table at which the chief guests are placed; also fig., esp. in Pol.; top-tail v., intr. to turn the tail up and head down, as a whale in diving (Cent. Dict.); top ten Popular Music, the first ten tunes or gramophone records in the popularity charts (chart n. 3 c) at a particular time; also transf.; similarly top twenty, etc.; top-, tap-thrawn a., Sc., perverse, obstinate, wrong-headed; top-tool, any smith's tool which is held upon the work while being struck, as distinct from a bottom-tool, which is socketed in the anvil; top-turnip, the turnip-cabbage, kohlrabi (Cent. Dict. Suppl.); top-twist = sense 20; top view = plan view s.v. plan n. 6; top wall (Mining): see quot.; top-water, (a) Mining: see quot. 1894; (b) as adj. (of a lure) that floats on top of the water; top-weight, the heaviest weight carried by a horse in a race; also transf. a horse carrying this weight; top-work v. trans., Horticulture, to replace part or all of the top of (a fruit tree) by grafts of another variety; so top-worked ppl. a., -working vbl. n.; top-yeast, the yeast which forms on the top of fermenting liquor (Cent. Dict. Suppl.). See also top-boot, etc.

1953 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang (1954) §583/12 *Top banana, the burlesque comedian who gets top billing. 1956 Picturegoer 21 July 29/3 ‘Top banana’ is the comic-in-chief of a burlesque show. 1974 Time 21 Jan. 53/3 Dentsu Advertising Ltd..has become the new top banana of world-wide advertising. 1978 N.Y. Times 29 Mar. c 27/1 Miss Burnett is a..very, very funny woman. She is a superb top banana.

1679 Moxon Mech. Exerc. viii. 147 *Top-beam. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. Gloss., Top-beams, the collar-beam of a truss;..formerly called wind-beam or strut-beam, and now collar-beam.

1883 E. Pennell-Elmhirst Cream of Leicestersh. 402 A horse..will make short work of an ordinary *topbinder when once the sap of the thorn has gone to the roots.

1877 Knight Dict. Mech., *Top-block,..a projecting piece on which the bows of a carriage rest when down.

1910 British Chess Mag. XXX. 463 A *top-board winning seven times successively might find himself temporarily or unjustly displaced in the ninth match. 1976 Milton Keynes Express 28 May 55/7 The competition was won..by county top board Norman Stephenson.

1976 Eastern Daily Press (Norwich) 19 Nov. 5/6 (Advt.), 1975 Yamaha FS1E, excellent condition, low mileage, winkers, *topbox.

1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 278 the Top-timber Line, or *top-breadth Line, a curve describing the height of the top-timbers, which gives the sheer of the vessel.

1574 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 243 *Topp Buttons and frenge Lace. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits ii. 34 The mainmast, from the deck to the top-button, measured 115 feet.

1874 Knight Dict. Mech. 470/1 These slats are called card-tops, *top-cards, or top-flats.

1827 G. Higgins Celtic Druids ii. §37. 78 It seems reasonable to expect that from these great *top casts, smaller ones should be found branching off to different countries.

1803 J. Plymley Agric. Shropsh. 56 *Top-coal. 1841 Hartshorne Salop. Antiq. Gloss. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. 90.

1804 F. Asbury Jrnl. 18 Apr. (1821) III. 136, I had heedlessly thrown off my *top-coat for a few hours, and caught cold. 1821 Blackw. Mag. Jan. 406/2 He had twa tap-coats and a plaid on. 1858 Ramsay Remin. vi. (1870) 235 [He] offered the beggar an old top-coat. 1959 Sears, Roebuck Catal. Spring & Summer 1182/3 House paint undercoat... Insures longer wear..and a smoother appearance of top coat. 1977 Custom Car Nov. 26/3 After three undercoats and four topcoats of Dulux Golden Yellow Coach Paint,..Chris describes the finish as ‘not bad’.

1819 R. Anderson Cumberld. Ball. 63 *Top-cwoatet squire.

1849 D. J. Browne Amer. Poultry Yd. (1855) 114 Artificial heat most ingeniously applied by ‘*top contact’. Ibid., The difference..between top-contact heat and that received from radiation as applied to hatching.

1919 H. Etheridge Dict. Typewriting 68 If an error is made whilst taking carbon copies, it is a lengthy process to make the correction, as, in erasing the original or *top copy, the pressure of the eraser will make a bad smudge on the copies. 1967 L. Meynell Mauve Front Door vii. 89 If you could possibly do a top and two carbons of these notes. 1979 G. Mitchell Mudflats of Dead ii. xvi. 162 The bill is for typing a top copy and two carbons of a book.

1889 Daily News 29 June 6/3 He foresees a corresponding depression in what he calls ‘the *top crops’. 1895 G. Huntington in Chicago Advance 19 Dec. 910/3 And it ain't top-crop rock, anyhow.

1890 Breeder's Gaz. (Chicago) 28 Mar. (Cent.), A filly with three *top crosses or a horse with four top crosses can be registered [in the stud-book].

1957 Practical Wireless XXXIII. 706/1 Simple switched bass⁓boost and *top-cut compensation is provided by S1 and S2 respectively. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio ii. 35 There is no worse microphone defect..for emphasizing any slight sibilance which may be present (and you cannot get rid of it by top cut if the emphasis lies in upper middle peaks).

1917 Editor 13 Jan. 33 *Top cutter, first sergeant. 1930 T. Fredenburgh Soldiers March! 279 It's a damn good book. Lots of swell dope for Top Cutters in it.

1948 Record Changer July 12/1 The *top cymbal has become the main tool of the bebop drummer. 1956 M. Stearns Story of Jazz (1957) xviii. 234 Clarke made the single right-hand ‘ride’ or ‘top’ or ‘front’ cymbal the rhythmic center... The top cymbal was the only regular and continuous sound made by the drummer.

1924 E. C. M. Shepherd Motor Car ii. 23 When a piston is at the top of its stroke..on the point of changing from an upward motion to a downward motion, it is said to have reached *top dead centre. 1978 Vocab. Reciprocating Int. Combust. Engines (B.S.I.) (1979) 7 Top dead centre, dead centre when the piston is farthest from the crankshaft.

1900 Speaker 28 Apr. 97/1 The most popular argument in favour of the war is that it will make the individual Briton *top dog in South Africa. 1906 P. White Eight Guests (Tauchn.) I. 66 Marcus had never had a tussle yet without coming out ‘top dog!’ 1906 Daily Chron. 26 Mar. 6/4, I recall..many in which I started as under-dog and came out top-dog.

1970 Toronto Daily Star 24 Sept. 15/9 He said Sault residents ‘are paying *top dollar for a second-rate flight’. 1978 M. Puzo Fools Die xvi. 170 A lot of those guys..had paid him top dollar to buy their enlistment in the six months' program.

1964 Communications Assoc. Computing Machinery VII. 80 [What are your general views regarding the merits of doing the syntax analysis from the ‘top down’ as against the ‘bottom up’?] Ibid., My analyzer is bottom-up and Warshall's is *top-down. 1969 R. Blackburn in Cockburn & Blackburn Student Power 178 Its officials are robbed of all real initiative by the requirements of rule obedience, top-down control and hierarchy. 1972 O. J. Dahl et al. Structured Programming p. v, Structured programming principles can be equally applied in ‘bottom-up’ as in ‘top-down’ program design. 1975 Nature 16 Oct. 548/1 Many somewhat different algorithms are properly classified as top-down parsing algorithms. 1976 Eastern Daily Press (Norwich) 16 Dec. 8/6 You take the familiar top-down view, pointing out the various problems which always beset constitutional changes. 1977 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 13 Oct. 28/1 The students were intent on showing that..‘every decision was made top-down by the power structure’. 1979 Personal Computer World Nov. 74/2 The approach we shall take in programming this problem is known as ‘Top-Down Design’. 1980 Times 9 Feb. 17/2 The emphasis in the latest public spending round has shifted from ‘bottom up’ planning, where spending totals are built up from the individual elements in the programmes, to ‘top down’ planning.

1905 H. A. Vachell The Hill i, Such boys as a rule don't come out of the *top drawer. 1920 R. Macaulay Potterism i. i. 10 The Potter family, however respectable now, wasn't really ‘top-drawer’. 1946 Sun (Baltimore) 10 Oct. 12/2 The National Bureau of Economic Research, a top-drawer group of research economists. 1958 ‘A. Bridge’ Portuguese Escape iii. 42 The composed decision that somehow had so much distinction. ‘She is out of the top drawer, isn't she?’ 1959 Vogue Dec. 61 Vedonis also make ladies' underwear, sweaters, nightwear and bed jackets. They're top-drawer because everything about Vedonis is so good. 1960 Guardian 25 June 4/4 The word ‘Hampstead’ with all its associations of top-drawer socialism. 1976 Time 20 Dec. 10/3 Tanaka and four other Diet members linked to Lockheed's scheme to buy top-drawer influence and stimulate sales with more than $2 million in bribes were re-elected by loyal rural constituencies. 1977 C. McCullough Thorn Birds vii. 149 Quite respectable, socially admissible, but not top drawer. Never top drawer.

1909 Westm. Gaz. 16 Nov. 5/2 The gear ratios are given as: 1st, 15 to 1; 2nd, 8.4 to 1; and on the *top-drive 4.7.

1933 F. E. Baume Tragedy Track 93 She..left again for the more human..regions of the *Top End, where at least one could drink fresh water occasionally. 1969 Northern Territory News (Darwin) Focus '69 81/1 Beef roads..will criss-cross the Top End with 665 miles of good bitumen.

1941 C. Barrett Coast of Adventure 14 The old *Top-ender drank beer, which, to the men up there, is more desirable than iced nectar is to gods. 1961 T. Ronan Only a Short Walk 52 Any ‘Top-Ender’ who wanted..a tip for the races..went to Billy.

1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVI. 367/1 The system is called *top-fermentation, because the type of yeast employed develops on the surface of the liquid, forming the ‘head’. 1905 [see bottom fermentation s.v. bottom n. 20]. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia III. 161/2 Top fermentations are usually carried out using selected strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, botanically identical with bakers' yeast.

1874 *Top-flats [see top-card].

1939 R. Chandler Big Sleep xx. 150 *Top-flight racketeers have business brains. 1958 Times 19 July 3/4 Lifting himself into the top flight of English batsmen. 1959 J. Thurber Years with Ross viii. 138 Reporters..joined the staff, all of them top flight. 1967 Punch 20 Dec. 951/3 Good though it is, it isn't top-flight. 1979 E. Newman Sunday Punch xv. 123 Every successful fighter when he reaches a point just below the top flight. 1981 Beautiful Brit. Columbia Fall 37 The University of Victoria, with its new, acoustically exuberant auditorium, is the scene now for many top-flight performances.

1950 ‘M. Innes’ Hare sitting Up ii. ii. 52 He lives on his nerves, as so many *top-flighters do. 1959 J. Dempsey Championship Fighting v. 21 If you boast only nine professional fights, there's little danger of your being tossed in with a top-flighter or a champion.

1884 Pall Mall G. 15 Aug. 2/1, (1) *Top fruit, such as apples, pears, plums, cherries, medlars, and quinces; (2) bush fruit..; (3) ground fruit. 1903 Q. Rev. Oct. 390 A plantation of top and bottom fruit.

1884 Pae Eustace 100 He's a trim craft as I would not like to damage in the *top-gear. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 28 Jan. 4/1 Handcross and Reigate, both of which the Napier can stealthily scale on top-gear and think nothing of it. 1910 Ibid. 21 Apr. 5/2 The extraordinary top-gear hill-climbing powers of the Ford. 1932 E. Bowen To North xxii. 235, I can't live at top gear. 1973 Nature 13 Apr. 440/1 The coal industry must now put its research and development programmes into top gear.

1897 Bailey Princ. Fruit-growing 342 It will probably pay to *top-graft them.

1912 F. A. Waugh Beginners' Guide Fruit Growing i. 13 Trees for *top-grafting may be of almost any age. 1975 W. E. Shewell-Cooper Compost Fruit Grower viii. 118 Many of the trees consist of quite unsuitable varieties... It is, therefore, worth realising that top-grafting methods may be adopted which will convert one variety into another.

1912 ‘B. M. Bower’ Flying U Ranch 201 We can both safely consider ourselves *top-hands when it comes to lying. 1955 R. P. Hobson Nothing too Good for Cowboy i. 12 It will be impossible to line up enough top hands to carry on. 1972 T. A. Bulman Kamloops Cattlemen iii. 19 They were all top hands with either saddle or work horses.

1834–5 J. Phillips Man. Geol. (1855) 190 The thickest coal in the district, called the ‘*top hard’, is the same bed as that called the thick or ten-foot coal in Yorkshire. 1867 W. W. Smyth Coal & Coal-mining 56 Cutting the top-hard coal at 510 yards deep.

1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, *Top Heads (S.S.), passages driven in the upper part of the Thick coal for draining off the gas.

1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 501 That lively heat within the frame, which is usually called *top-heat.

1905 Dundee Advert. 23 Jan. 5 The victims..at the time of the explosion were engaged widening the ‘*tophole’ between No. 6 and No. 7 levels. 1899 Doyle Duet vi. 74 We certainly did ourselves up to the top hole last night. 1908 E. V. Lucas Over Bemertons ii, ‘A top-hole idea’, he called it. 1909 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 409/1 A piece like the Merry Widow..would be top-hole.

1700 Prior Carmen Seculare 478 Let all the naval world due homage pay; With hasty reverence their *top-honours lower.

1803 T. Netherton in Naval Chron. XV. 220 Shipwrights employed in the capstern and *top house.

1815 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 108 It is always necessary to make the *top-iron fit the blade so correctly that no shaving can get between them.

1918 J. E. Rendinell Diary 28 Mar. in One Man's War (1928) viii. 63 The old *top-kick would make a running dive for the dugout. 1976 L. Deighton Twinkle, twinkle, Little Spy vii. 70, I was a gunner, nineteen—youngest top-kick in the group. 1979 Arizona Daily Star 22 July a8/1 The president's appointment of Hamilton Jordan as the White House topkick.

1919 L. L. Lincoln Company C, Eleventh Engineers 8 Veeder was our first *top-kicker.

1877 Kinglake Crimea VI. vi. 71 The high..*topland or spine of Mount Inkerman. Ibid. 446 The Inkerman toplands.

1842 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. V. 60/1 The ‘*top lift’ was deposited in spoil bank. 1901 Daily Record & Mail 28 Nov. 2 A new machine..will do heel-shaving, rough scouring, fine scouring, heel-edge blacking, top-lift blacking, heel-burnishing, top-lift burnishing, and breasting.

1843 J. Ballantine Gaberlunzie's Wallet ix. 199 The speck of sky overhead looked not larger than a common *top-light or cupola. 1873 Young Englishwoman July 342/2 The top-lights were..removed..and whitewashing and painting were done. 1924 Galsworthy White Monkey ii. ii. 131 A high room with rafters and a top light, and lots of pictures. 1972 P. Diamand in D. Sutton Lett. R. Fry I. 60 On the top floor was Roger's studio... It had a top light.

1911 W. J. Locke Glory of Clementina Wing xxiv. 374 The room, spacious and *top-lighted, was converted into a studio. 1932 F. L. Wright Autobiogr. ii. 152 The top-lighted interior created the effect of a great official family at work in day-lit, clean airy quarters.

1962 Times 16 May 5/5 The great, *top-lit room of the Whitechapel Gallery. 1979 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVII. 655/1 The new galleries should be on the same level as the old and top-lit by natural light.

1904 Amer. Inventor 15 Apr. 184 The *toploader is the man who runs the greatest risks. 1968 Which? May 149/1 This machine is a top loader, but has a horizontal stainless steel drum—you have to lift the top lid before being able to open the doors of the wash drum. 1976 Gramophone Dec. 1084/3 Included in the 1977 Tandy catalogue..are..two new stereo cassette decks with Dolby—a front-loader..and a top-loader. 1978 Nature 18 May p. xviii/3 The Sartorius 3802MP electronic balance is a toploader of large capacity and high readability.

1976 CB Mag. June 59/1 (Advt.), And *top loading eliminates vehicle body obstructions, a common problem for base loaded antennas.

1884 Bull. U.S. Nat. Museum No. 27. 471 Gambusia patruelis..*Top Minnow..Southern United States, from Virginia to Texas. 1962 K. F. Lagler et al. Ichthyology vi. 180 The mouths are superior in most of the topminnows.

1848 N. York Com. Adv. 16 Oct. (Bartlett), To-day the editor of the Union is cheered to the very *top notch of joyous exultation..; to-morrow he is horrified. 1888 N. York Herald (Dixon), The effect of their [locusts'] blighting touch has not yet reached the top notch. 1900 Billboard 29 Dec. 8/1 The last is a top-notch figure, and it is reached no oftener than can be helped. 1910 J. K. Bangs Pursuit of House-boat iii. 51 My seamanship, which was top-notch for my day. 1928 Amer. Speech IV. 244 Some successful criminals escape getting a monicker, for they, especially top-notch con men and syndicate members, think it adds ‘class’ to be without one.

1902 13th Rep. Kansas State Bd. Agric. 64 There are not a sufficient number of ‘*top-notchers’ to go around, the result being..the use of many inferior specimens.

1896 Daily News 28 Dec. 3/2 Another even more popular ballad (or whatever he calls it), known as ‘Mary Jane's *Top-note’. 1908 A. Noyes W. Morris 54 Never once do we feel that he is exerting himself, or on his top-note.

1912 Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 7 Mar. 157/1 The divided ‘*top’ of the bill happens with these two artistes. 1933 P. Godfrey Back-Stage xviii. 222 The London theatre queues provide a great variety of performances. At the top of the bill are a few well-organized teams of strolling players. 1965 Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Nov. 1047/4 The..top-of-the-bill entertainer.

1963 Economist 19 Oct. 301/1 The *top-of-the-line sporty version [of a car]. 1981 Sci. Amer. Feb. 4/1 (Advt.), The new, top-of-the-line HP 3000 Series 44 computer has up to double the throughput power and memory size of its predecessor.

1942 C. Spry Come into Garden, Cook v. 51 Make a mixture of tomato sauce..and a little ‘*top of the milk’ cream. 1958 Listener 21 Aug. 287/2 Serve hot or cold, with cream or top of the milk. 1979 A. Parker Country Recipe Notebk. viii. 103 The milk..pasteurized..has no ‘top of the milk’.

1884 Britten Watch & Clockm. 47 The full cap to full plate watches covers the *top plate. 1885 C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 327/1 Push out the pillar pins, and remove the top plate.

1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, i. i. 151 This *top-proud fellow..I doe know To be corrupt and treasonous.

1679 Moxon Mech. Exerc. viii. 147 *Top-rail of the Balcony. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. Gloss., Top-rail, the upper rail of a piece of framing or wainscotting.

1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Upper or *top-rider futtocks, these timbers stand nearly the same as breadth-riders, and very much strengthen the topside.

1562 T. Phaer æneid ix. D d j, His *topright crest from crown downe battred falles.

1803 J. Plymley Agric. Shropsh. 56 *Top-rock 7 yds. 0 ft. 0 in. a 1879 in Miss Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. 89 Soil,..Clay,..Loose Rock,..Coal,..Blue Clod,..Red Clunch,..Top Rock,..White Clod,..Brown Clunch.

1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Bit, The several parts of a snaffle or curb bit are..Trench, *Top-roll, Flap, and Jeive.

1877 Knight Dict. Mech. 2597/2 The *top-saw is a little in advance or rear of the under one, to make the kerf complete without collision of the teeth of the respective saws.

1960 J. Fingleton Four Chukkas to Australia 29 Huntington.. *top-scored with 73. 1977 World of Cricket Monthly June 26/3 Mohsin Khan batted well to top-score with 55.

1860 Baily's Mag. Aug. 367 The *top scorer for the Midland was Mr. J. H. Marshall. 1976 Milton Keynes Express 30 July 41/1 Arnold Mann was top scorer with a patient knock of 24.

1731 Lady B. Germain Let. to Swift 4 Nov., So much for your *topscript, not postscript;..I heartily thank you for remembering me so often.

1898 J. Bowe Diary 2 June in With 13th Minnesota in Philippines (1905) 12 The *top sergeant went around with a lantern. 1969 I. Kemp Brit. G.I. in Vietnam vii. 150 My immediate superior was First (or Top) Sergeant Rutledge, a dour and somewhat autocratic professional soldier in his early forties.

1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. S ij, There are some Veins when once discover'd, carry Ore of a whole Stool-end, twenty or thirty Yards in Depth..; then the Ore cuts off on the Sole, and the Vein becomes hard and streat,..and endures so many Yards in Sinking, and then at last breaks over again, and the Ore proves to be as good and stronge as..before; these Levells are called Sets, as the first is the *Top-Set, the second which is found out by Sinking through the Deadness, is called the Under-Set. 1905 Chamberlin & Salisbury Geol. I. iii. 191 Deposition is also taking place on the top of the delta. These top-set beds are laid down in a nearly horizontal position.

1876 M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. x, The sheets and table-cloths we *top-sewed when we were children.

1808 G. Ellis Let. in Lockhart Scott (1837) II. iv. 145, I should have ranked it..on the very *top shelf of English poetry. 1882 Top-shelf [implied in top-shelfer]. 1891–2 Lupton Bros. Catal. Dec. and Jan., Gentlemen requiring scarce and top-shelf books. 1905 Hornung Thief in Nt. (Tauchn.) 12 ‘Nice house?’ said Raffles... ‘Top shelf,’ said I.

1882 N. York Tribune 12 July, The rich tourist, or as the frontiersman calls him, ‘the *top-shelfer’, who goes about with guides and a luxurious outfit.

1905 Ihlseng & Wilson Man. Mining (ed. 4) i. iii. 79 (heading) *Top-slicing and caving. Ibid. (caption) A system of top-slicing the ore. 1963 Economist 23 Mar. 1141/2 Other taxpayers..deserve some form of relief by ‘top-slicing’. 1973 L. J. Thomas Introd. Mining vi. 209 Top slicing is more suitable for large horizontal deposits. Ibid., Small pillars that could be top sliced are more likely to be recovered by cut and fill methods or to be abandoned. 1983 Sunday Tel. 5 June 28/7 If the recipient pays tax above the basic, ‘top slicing’ relief is provided to mitigate the effect of taxing the whole gain in one year.

1836, 1850 *Top-soil [see encallow n.]. 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 169 Mild loamy top soil, with a subsoil more tough. 1904 Archæol. æliana XXV. ii. 253 A foot-and-a-half of blackish top-soil. 1967 Antiquaries Jrnl. XLVII. 188 In 1965 the stripping of the turf and topsoil from the rampart defences..exposed the top of the wall and an internal tower. 1975 J. G. Evans Environment Early Man Brit. Isles vi. 128 Chalk waste bringing about the burial of topsoil and the destruction of what may have been valuable pasture or arable land.

1860 Worcester, *Top-soiling, the act of taking off the top-soil.

1926 Anderson & Stallings What Price Glory? in Three Amer. Plays i. 10 I'm the new *top soldier here. 1935 Our Army Nov. 39 Top Soldier Rawhide was sitting in the NCO club.

1913 Daily Mail 7 July 9/2 A good straight ball, with *top spin, that comes off the ground very quickly. 1934 Punch 7 Feb. 141/1 She has thrown her husband out of the house sixty-one times, but he always returned. It looks as if she put too much top-spin on him. 1977 Time 4 July 10/3 Guillermo Vilas,..winner of the French Open last month, never could get his big topspin game going on grass. 1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 12 Sept. 983/5 Such existentialist propositions..sound pedestrian when summarized. The kind of intellectual top-spin required to give them philosophic solemnity is supplied.

1921 P. F. Warner My Cricketing Life x. 194 A. R. Littlejohn..bowled an occasional *top spinner which came very quickly off the ground. 1975 Times 13 Aug. 6/8 Intikhab..beat him with a top-spinner and hit his middle stump.

1969 New Yorker 14 June 44/3 He just can't hit a heavily *top-spun backhand. 1977 Sunday Times (Perth, Austral.) 16 Jan. 11/4 The large crowd..reserved their warmest applause for some Wilkinson top-spun forehand lobs.

1960 Lebende Sprachen V. 35/3 *Top stitch, Steppstich, steppen. 1964 McCall's Sewing vii. 100/2 Faced edges should be top-stitched to keep them flat. 1976 N. C. Anders Appliqué Old & New v. 104 Bind edge of each potholder with double fold bias tape. Cut two 2½{pp} strips for loops. Topstitch edges. Attach to potholder.

1934 A. L. Hird Needlework & Dressmaking v. 100 List of seams..plain lapped = *top stitched. 1975 New Yorker 17 Nov. 138/2 Bottega Veneta has some splendid wrist-length styles..in topstitched pigskin.

1947 C. Talbot Compl. Bk. Sewing xxi. 145/1 *Top-stitching is the frank use of stitching on the outside of a dress, suit or coat to emphasize lines that are important in the design. 1979 Tucson (Arizona) Citizen 20 Sept. 2b/1 Remove any top-stitching to 4 inches above the ‘new’ hemline.

1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 347 From a window in the *top story of one of the loftiest of those gigantic houses. 1903 [Ld. W. Neville] Penal Servitude 150 [Prisoners] who are more or less touched in the top story. 1904 Daily Chron. 9 May 8/4 In every top-storey window the machinery can be seen working.

1690 J. Wodrow in Life (1828) 112 These may be named the *Tap-swarm. a 1905 Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v. Top, Twea topswarms 'll mak' a strang hive.

1856 Aird Poet. Wks. 404 The unfinished skep For June *top-swarmers.

1964 Guardian 7 Oct. 10/1 (heading) At the *top table in Washington. a 1974 R. Crossman Diaries (1976) II. 125 We found ourselves at the top table. I was sitting opposite the Bishop of London and next to the wife of a City alderman. 1977 ‘J. le Carré’ Hon. Schoolboy i. viii. 191, I have a standing instruction..to repair our American liaison... ‘To get us back at the top table.’ 1983 Daily Tel. 1 Mar. 16/4 A late guest [at the St. David's Day banquet] will be Simon Hughes, Liberal victor of Bermondsey—too late to get a place on the top table.

1839 Knickerbocker XIII. 385 ‘There she *top-tails! there she blows!’ added he,..after taking a long look at the sporting shoal.

1958 J. Asman in P. Gammond Decca Bk. Jazz xiv. 174 Traditional jazz records vie with the accepted ‘pop’ *Top Ten in selling power. 1960 News Chron. 7 May 3/5 Buxton will have to change..to make the tourist top ten. 1979 E. H. Gombrich Ideas & Idols 157 It [sc. a Beethoven Quartet] will never belong to the top ten. But it does belong to the canon. 1981 R. D. Edwards Corridors of Death v. 22 One of the country's top ten management whizz-kids.

1808–18 Jamieson, *Tapthrawn, adj.,..having the..top or head distorted; or in allusion to the hair of the head lying in an awkward and unnatural manner. 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 194 A tap-thrawn monk wi' roundit cap.

1877 Knight Dict. Mech., *Top-tool, a blacksmith's tool..used above the work, being struck by a hammer.

1959 ‘F. Newton’ Jazz Scene (1960) xiii. 236 Jazz has until recently simply not been big business in Britain, in the terms in which those who prepare records for the ‘hit parade’ of the ‘top ten’ or ‘*top twenty’ think of it. 1962 Listener 20 Sept. 451/3 TAM puts the repeats of Steptoe and Son in the top twenty week after week. 1982 Daily Tel. 15 Apr. 16/6 All we need now is a royal baby named George.., and the name may be back in the top 20 once more!

1895 T. S. Lawley Lessons in Woodwork Drawing 10 The *top view of a penny..placed on a table will be a circle. 1912 V. C. Getty How to Read a Drawing i. 8 As we were..looking at the top of the object, this view would be known as the top view, or plan view. 1953 A. C. Parkinson Pictorial Drawing for Engineers vi. 44/1 We commence by drawing a true-shape top view or plan view of the object.

1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *Top-wall. See Hanging-wall. Ibid., Hanging-side or Hanging-wall, or Hanger (Cornw.), the wall or side over the vein.

1778 W. Pryce Min. Cornub. 21 A very large proportion of our Mine Water is temporary; and..is denominated *Top Water. 1894 Northumbld. Gloss., Top-watter, water percolating through the roof of a coal mine. 1945 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 21 Sept. 18/2 It is well to try your top-water lures first, and if they fail, then try the under-water varieties. 1980 Hunting Ann. 1981 36/2 Rather than look for a long stick or get clothing and boots wet and muddy, the hunter can use a multihooked topwater lure and cast for his bird.

1892 Daily News 28 Mar. 3/5 It looks as if the *top-weights are in the Grand National precluded from winning... It is time the top-weights had a chance in this event. 1896 Ibid. 19 Feb. 2/6 Another top-weight got home safely in the February Hurdle Handicap, Doge, about whom as little as 3 to 1 was taken.

1883 Maine Agric. Rep. XXVI. 342 The Bourassa..does well *top-worked on a strong stock, and then produces bountifully of apples. 1910 Paddock & Whipple Fruit-Growing in Arid Regions ix. 150 It seldom pays to top-work any crab. 1968 Punch 27 Mar. 466/2 Though apples can be ‘top worked’ by grafting another kind on the sawn off branch ends, no peach will stand this treatment.

1934 Webster, *Top-worked. 1974 Country Life 28 Nov. 1660/1 Topworked trees, that is those which are grafted at the top of a standard stem and trunk.

1897 L. H. Bailey Princ. Fruit-Growing v. 235 Some persons have proposed to sow seeds in the very spot where the trees are to stand, and thereby to raise stocks for *top-working without transplanting them. 1946 Nature 28 Dec. 941/2 There is a particularly good chapter on top-working and frame-working, but that on pruning might have been improved.

35. From senses 9 and 9 b; (top being also short for topsail or topmast), as: a. top-bowline, top-lift (lift n.² 7; see also 34), top-sheet, top-shroud, top-stay, top-yard. b. † top-arming, top-armour, † top-arms (pl.): see quots. a 1625, 1867; top-block, a large block suspended below the cap of the lower mast, used in hoisting or lowering topmasts (see also 34); top-brim: see quot. 1794, and cf. top-rim; top-burton: see quot. 1867 and burton¹; also attrib.; top-chain, a chain used to sling the yards in action, in case the ropes by which they are hung should be shot away; top-cloth: see quot. and cf. top-armour; top-lantern, top-light: see quot. 1867; top-lining, topsail-lining: see quots.; also ‘a platform of thin board nailed upon the upper part of the cross-trees on a vessel's top’ (Smyth); top-maul: see quot. 1867; † top-nail, ? = fid n.²; top-nettings n. pl.: see top-armour (quot. 1867); top-pendant, a pendant used in hoisting and lowering topmasts (Cent. Dict. 1891); top-rail: see quot. (also 34); top-rim = top-brim; top-rope: see quot. a 1625; to sway (erron. swing) (away) on all top-ropes, to go to great lengths; so to be on (the) top-ropes; † top-royal, short for top-gallant royal: see topgallant; † top-ship, a ship having tops; = topman¹ 1; top-tackle, a tackle used in raising or lowering topmasts. See also top-castle, topgallant, topman¹, topmast, topsail.

1486 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 14 A *Top Armyng of say. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Top-armings, hammocks stowed inside the rigging for the protection of riflemen.

1485 Cely Papers (Camden) 184 Item ij ȝerdes di rede..for the *topearmer... Item an ȝerde of wyght for the same. 1514 Inv. Henri Grace de Dieu in Oppenheim Admin. Roy. Navy (1896) I. 377 Top Armours..vii. a 1625 Nomenclator Navalis (Harl. MS. 2301), Topparmors are the clothes which are tied aboute the Tops of the mastes for shewe and also for to hide menn in the Fight which lie there to fling fire-potts [etc.]. 1823 Crabb Technol. Dict. s.v. Top. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v. Top, This top was formerly fenced on the afterside by a rail about three feet high, between the stanchions of which a netting was usually constructed, and stowed in action with hammocks. This was covered with red baize, or canvas painted red, and called the top-armour.

c 1599 MS. Otho E. ix. in Bree Cursory Sk. Nav., Mil. & Civ. Estab. (1791) I. 217 For waste cloaths and *top-arms.

1769 Falconer Marine Dict. (1776) s.v. Block, The *top-block is used to hoist up or lower down the top-masts, and is for the purpose hooked in an eye-bolt driven into the cap.

1762 ― Shipwr. ii. 149 The halyards and *top-bow-lines soon are gone.

1730 Capt. W. Wriglesworth MS. Log-bk. of the ‘Lyell’ 30 Nov., Arm'd the fore Shrouds, Matted the *Top-brims. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 90 Top-brim, a space in the middle of the foot of a topsail, containing one-fifth of the number of its cloths,..so called from..being near the fore part of the top,..when the sail is extended. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 433/2 The holes for marling the clues of sails and the top-brims of topsails have grommets of log-line.

c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 46 The topmen will hand out the *top burtons. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Burton, a small tackle..generally used to set up or tighten the shrouds, whence it is frequently termed a top-burton tackle.

1698 in MSS. Ho. Lords N.S. (1905) III. 344 Asked if the *top-chains, davits and fishes were made use of to make a boom. 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) VI. 1989 The boats were moored with top-chains.

1815 Burney Falconer's Dict. Marine, *Top-Cloth, a large piece of canvas, used to cover the hammocks which are lashed in the top when prepared for action.

1748 Anson's Voy. i. x. 98 the main top-sail shook so strongly in the wind, that it carried away the *top lanthorn. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Top-lantern, or Top-light, a large signal lantern placed in the after-part of a top.

1485 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 48 Toppe yerdes..j, *Toppe lyftes..ij.

1809 J. Thicknesse in Naval Chron. XXII. 57, I carried a *top-light.

1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 93 The *toplining of topsails is of canvas, No. 6 or 7. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 11 Top lining.—Double part on the after side of a topsail, to take the chafe of the top, etc.

1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 214 The *top mall, which being made fast to the head of the main-mast, was wash'd ashore. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Top-maul, a large hammer used to start the topmast fid, and to beat down the top, when setting up topmast-rigging.

1352 Acc. Excheq. Q.R. Bundle 20 No. 27 (P.R.O.) Pro quadam clav[o] ferri vocato *toppenaill' pro eodem mast.

1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Cercles de hune, the *top rails, which formerly surrounded the tops, when circular.

Ibid. (1780) s.v. Out-rigger, It is then thrust out to it's usual distance beyond the *top-rim, where it is securely fastened.

a 1625 Nomenclator Navalis (Harl. MS. 2301), *Top-Roapes are those Roapes wherewith wee sett or strike the Top-mastes. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. ii. 259 At each mast-head the top-ropes others bend. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. I. iii. 119 Apt to attempt feats..in nautical phrase, ‘to swing on all top-ropes’. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., ‘Swaying on all the top-ropes’, figuratively, ‘going the whole hog’ in joviality or any trickery. 1868 W. Pengelly in H. Pengelly Life xii. (1897) 188 The veteran..was on the top ropes about the meeting.

1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxxviii. 30 Thy Ryuer..Where many a ship doth rest with *toppe-royall.

1485 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 48 Toppe lyftes..ij, *Toppe shetes..ij.

1562 T. Phaer æneid viii. Z iv, His crowne couragious shines with garland wun from *topshipsnout. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 718 Two and fifty religious structures, as many wind⁓mils, and as many toppe Ships in Dunwich.

1485 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 48 Toppe mastes..j, *Toppe shrowdes..vj.

1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) IV. xcviii. 275 ‘Split my *topstay-sail’, said he.

1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) B b iij, To the lower end of the top-rope is fixed the *top-tackle.

1485 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 48 Toppe mastes..j, Toppe shrowdes..vj, *Toppe yerdes..j.

36. In sense 2 b, as top-dyeing, top-maker, top-making, top-master, (tops-)mill; † topwork, wool-combing.

1888 Daily News 16 Apr. 2/7 Merino tops are firm in price,..though *top makers are said to have little margin for profit. 1891 Labour Commission Gloss. s.v., Some woolstaplers are also ‘top-makers’, i.e., woolcombers. In woolcombing the long smooth fibres are combed out into ‘tops’, so called from the form in which the ‘ribbon’ of wool is coiled upon its spindle being like a spinning top. 1896 Balme & Co. Wool Brokers Circular 15 May, Long-stapled parcels which..were largely purchased by the Bradford Topmakers.

1884 W. S. B. M{supc}Laren Spinning (ed. 2) 116 Balling or *Top-Making.—One other process follows combing..namely, balling, or making into ‘tops’.

1902 Times 6 Nov. 10/5 *Top-masters report a fair trade during the week at satisfactory prices.

1909 Edin. Rev. Oct. 284 He was building the largest *tops mill in the United States.

1637 Bury Wills (Camden) 169 A great deale of *topworke abroad at spynners.

Sense 20 in Dict. becomes 20 b. Add: [IV.] [15.] e. Audio. High-frequency sound, esp. as regards its characteristics in sound reproduction.

1940 in Chambers's Techn. Dict. 1946 Wireless World Dec. 422/2 The first two chains are connected to the ends of the ‘top’ control potentiometer... The ‘bass’ control is incorporated in a normal bass lift circuit. 1962 [see de-emphasis n.]. 1976 Gramophone Dec. 1083/1 To a surprising degree the precision and clarity of violin tone with a suspicion of excessive top.., the nice balancing of woodwind..presented a consistent sound.

[V.] [20.] a. Golf. A stroke in which the ball is (usu. inadvertently) struck above the centre. Cf. top v.¹ 18 a.

1890 H. G. Hutchinson Golf xiii. 337 As long as we do not make an egregious top into the burn. 1938 Times 1 Jan. 4/7 May we..play them [sc. good shots] till we are weary of them and long for a top or a fluff! 1977 J. Hardy in Golf Mag. Aug. 38/3 There are in fact three separate and distinct kinds of tops..the ‘shallow top’.., the ‘steep top’ and the ‘missed-radius top’. 1989 W. Whitelaw Mem. 26 Some hit very short tops but no one has yet hit out of bounds.

[VI.] [22.] d. pl. (at) tops: at the most, at the latest. Usu. finally. colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.).

1956 B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) xii. 114 So she was only thirty-eight when she died. I'm going to do the same thing. I'm staying thirty-eight myself, maybe forty tops. 1977 D. Mamet Amer. Buffalo ii. 62, I find the combination fifteen minutes, tops. 1986 Q Oct. 62/1 The crowd stiffens. Bob Dylan is five feet, tops. 1988 G. Naylor Mama Day 191 Since they'd only played for nickels and dimes, the most you were going to lose was six or seven dollars. At tops, you'd be out ten.

Hence ˈtopness n. rare, the state or quality of being (at the) top; pre-eminence; also transf. in Particle Physics.

1962 C. Watson Hopjoy was Here xiv. 156 Pumphrey..had emphasised with some asperity the topness of the secrecy involved. 1979 J. C. Polkinghorne Particle Play viii. 117 Everyone believes that there is another yet heavier quark around,..endowed with topness (or truth). 1989 F. Close in P. Davies New Physics xiv. 401/1 All of these mesons and baryons possess one or more of six profound attributes... The search is on for particles predicted to possess a sixth attribute, called ‘topness’, or ‘truth’.

▸ colloq. (Brit., Austral. and N.Z.). Great, superb. Cf. sense 17b(d).

1953 D. Thomas Let. 12 June (1987) Here are the addresses & names of 3 of the best bone-boys in the country... The last is the best but all are top. 1990 S. Johnson Flying Lessons xxviii. 217 Just before they leave the track by the river, Rick turns to Ria. He says, ‘Scott's a really top bloke,’ then throws a stone into the water, where it sinks without leaving a ripple. 2001 C. Glazebrook Madolescents 25 The black scoop-neck sweater looks totally top over a balcony bra and I slip into a PVC microskirt, stripey tights and my biker boots.

▪ II. top, n.²
    (tɒp)
    Also 4–6 toppe, 4 topp (toop); (7– Sc. tap).
    [A word of difficult history, found (app.) in late OE. (c 1060) as top, also c 1325 in Walter de Bibbesworth (AFr. and Eng.), and common from late 14th c. onward. There are words coinciding in sense, and app. related in form, both in German and French, but their phonological relations are not normal: see Note below.]
    1. a. A toy of various shapes (cylindrical, obconic, etc.), but always of circular section, with a point on which it is made to spin, usually by the sudden pulling of a string wound round it; the common whip-top or whipping-top is kept spinning by lashing it with a whip.
    Other tops, as the peg-top, are spun in the same way, but not whipped; some are spun by the action of a spring. humming-top, a hollow top, usually of metal, with perforations, which makes a humming noise in spinning. parish top, town top, a large top kept for public use, which two players or parties whipped in opposite directions. See also quot. 1911.

[c 1060 Apollonius of Tyre (Thorpe) 13 Mid ᵹelæredre handa he swang þone top mid swa micelre swiftnesse, þæt þam cynge wæs ᵹeþuht swilce he of ylde to iuᵹuðe ᵹewænd wære.] c 1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. I. 39 (Camb. MS.) En la rue iuez au toup [All Souls MS. a toop]; Gloss. All Souls [In the] strete plaies þe toop, Camb. MS. atte toppe, B.M. Arundel a top of tre. 13.. K. Alis. 1727 (Bodl. MS.) Þere fore, ich habbe þee ysent, A top and scourge to present. Ibid. 1756 Þe Top þat is rounde aboute, Signefieþ also saunz doute, Þat þe werlde þat þe rounde is, Shal be myne also I wys. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. xvii. (1495) d iiij b/1 All þe lynes p{supt} ben drawe fro all þ⊇ partyes of þe thynge þ{supt} is seen, make aperaunce, shapen as a toppe, and the poynt therof is in þ⊇ black of the eye, and the brode ende in þe thynge þ{supt} is seen, as in this fygure & shappe. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1624 Soche soteltie þai soght to solas hom with; The tables, the top, tregetre also. c 1425 St. Christina xxiv. in Anglia VIII. 128/36 Whirlynge about as a scoprelle or a toppe Þat childer pleye with. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 496/2 Top, of chylderys pley, trochus. 1567 Drant Horace, Art Poet. B iv, The stoole ball, top, or camping ball if suche one should assaye. 1581 Mulcaster Positions ix. (1887) 54 Fensing, and scourging the Top. 1601 [see parish n. 7]. 1616–61 B. Holyday Persius iii. (1673) 311 For the scourgstick I did strive, That none his top with greater art might drive. 1623 [see town 10]. 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. Pref. 209 Are no more worthy of my serious hopes, Then Ratles, Pot-guns, or the Schoole-boyes Tops. 1697 R. Pierce Bath Mem. i. x. 235 To play at Trap, and Top and Scourge, with the Boys. 1838–43 C. Knight Pict. Shaks., Twel. N. i. iii. note, The town-top and the parish-top were one and the same. The custom..existed in the time of Elizabeth, and probably long before, of a large top being provided for the amusement of the peasants in frosty weather. 1851 [see humming ppl. a. 1 c]. 1868 Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens (ed. 3) 457 The motion of our globe has often been compared..to that of a top. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 47/2 Other kinds of tops are made as supports for coloured disks which on revolving show a kaleidoscopic variation of patterns. The top is also used in certain games of chance, when it is generally known as a ‘teetotum’.

b. As the type of a sound sleeper, in reference to the apparent stillness of a spinning top when its axis of rotation is vertical: cf. sleep v. B. 3 c; esp. in to sleep like (as sound or as fast as) a top: cf. sleep v. B. 1 e. † Rarely fig. = sound sleeper.

c 1616 Fletcher & Massinger Thierry & Theod. v. ii, I will assure you, he can sleep no more Than a hooded Hawk; a centinel to him, Or one of the City Constables are tops. 1693 Congreve Old Bach. i. 8 'Tis but well lashing him, and he will sleep like a Top. 1711 Ramsay On Maggy Johnstoun x, I took a nap..As sound's a tap. 1763 F. Sheridan Discov. i. ii, In two minutes I was as fast as a top. 1909 G. Tyrrell in Q. Rev. July 106 Its [a perfect life's] quiet is that of a sleeping top,—the ease of intense well-balanced activity.

2. A marine gastropod having a short conical shell; any species of the genus Trochus or family Trochidæ; a top-shell. In earliest use, sea top.

a 1682 Sir T. Browne Norf. Fishes Wks. 1835 IV. 332 Also trochi, trochili, or sea tops, finely variegated and pearly. 1856 Gosse Mar. Zool. ii. 118 Trochus (Linn.), Top. Shell pyramidal, nearly flat at the base. 1857 Wood Com. Obj. Sea Shore 25 Little shells, called Tops from their form... One of the most beautiful of these shells, the Livid Top (Trochus ziziphinus).

3. Rope-making. (Also laying-top.) See quots.

1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 58 Tops, to lay ropes,..are conical pieces of wood, with three or four grooves..from the butt to the end, for the strands to lie in, and form a triangle. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVI. 485/1 The top comes away from the swivel..and the line begins to lay. 1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 154/2 A piece of wood called a top, in the form of a truncated cone, being placed between the strands, and kept during the operation gently forced into the angle formed by the strands, where they are united by the closing or twisting of the rope. 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. s.v., The top is forced as far as possible toward the sledge-hook, so as to allow the twist to commence at that end, the top giving way as the twist crowds it forward to the head end of the yarns.

[Some would refer to this word ‘top of flax or wool’: see top n.¹ 2.]
4. attrib. and Comb., as top-fashion, top-shape, top-spinner, top-spinning (n. and adj.), top-string; top-giddy, top-like, top-shaped adjs.; top minor (Rope-making): see quot. 1835–6; top-shell = sense 2; top-wise adv., like a top, in the manner of a top. See also topman².

1824 J. Symmons tr. æschylus' Agam. 60 They vanish'd in deep night, *Top-giddy, whirl'd about, or scatter'd wide.

c 1711 Petiver Gazophyl. vii. 65 A small Pyramidal or *Toplike Shell. 1895 I. B. Richman Appenzell xi. 195 To execute..a series of top-like revolutions about the room.

1793 J. D. Belfour Specif. Patent No. 1939. 10 To prevent the strand from being twisted too quick, I have introduced an instrument which I call the *top minor. 1835–6 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VIII. 754/2 The yarns were all united..round the notches of an implement which he [J. D. Belfour] called a top minor.

1776 J. Lee Introd. Bot. Explan. Terms 394 Turbinatum, *top-shaped, like an obverse cone.

c 1711 Petiver Gazophyl. Dec. vii. Tab. 70 The large Barbadoes Magpye *Top-shell. 1885 C. F. Holder Marvels Animal Life 83 Usually a Top-shell (Trochus).

a 1913 N.E.D., *Top-spinning. 1964 Catal. National Mus. Kuala Lumpur 3/1 Dioramas present aspects of Malay dances, Kelantan top spinning, [etc.]. 1979 Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. b 5/3 For relaxation, the brothers have taken up juggling, motocross bike⁓riding and top-spinning.

1855 Mrs. Gaskell Lizzie Leigh & Other Tales 247 He had been the..Robin Good⁓fellow of the neighbourhood..whose *top-strings were always hanging in nooses to catch the unwary.

1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. xvii. (Tollem. MS.), Þe syȝte is nouȝt mad but by a piramys schape a *top wise [orig. per piramidem; 1535 shapen top wise] þ{supt} comeþ to þe ye. Ibid. x. v, In the moost ouermest poynt of his shappe that is a topwyse the flamme is moost hote. 1900 F. T. Bullen Idylls of Sea v. 27 The angry currents..whirling us topwise in defiance of wind and helm.

    [Note. The meaning of top in the OE. quot. is only inferential, as the OE. Apollonius here diverges from the Latin original, which contains no such terms as turbo, trochus or other word meaning ‘top’; but it is difficult to see what else the OE. word could mean. In c 1325 the sense is clear. On the continent, the name of the toy in Holland generally is now tol; but top is used in East and West Flanders, Antwerp, and parts of Brabant; also in Friesland, Groningen, and Drente, in the North Netherlands; but this has not been found earlier than 1500. In Brussels, Mechlin, South Brabant generally, and Limburg, the form used is dop. Dop, doppe, was also the MDu. form, occurring from 13th c., and was the normal LG. equivalent of OHG. topfo, topf, MHG. topfe, topf, Ger. dial. topf (= Ger. kreisel) in this sense. Of this comparatively late substitution of top for dop in Flemish, etc., no explanation appears, and it does not help to account for the use of top in English in 1060 or even in 1325. The most that could be suggested would be that the word meaning turbo or trochus has in both cases run together in form with that meaning apex (top n.¹). On the other hand, the use in 1325 of an Anglo-French toup (toop) in this sense seems to form a link with F. toupie (also † topie) and its kindred words, OF. topet, or toupet², Obs. F. toupin, and the derivative vbs. OF. topier or toupier, topiner or toupiner, and toupiller. But the etymology of toupie and its family is beset by as many difficulties as that of top; it does not answer in form to either OHG. topfo or MLG. doppe.]
▪ III. † top, n.³ Obs.
    Also 5 toppe.
    [a. MLG., MFl. toppe, top (14–15th c.) basket (as a measure of raisins, figs, etc.): cf. MLG. top basket, as a measure of grapes (Walther-Lubben), MDu. topkine (c 1334), toppen (1486), top van vijghen basket of figs (Kilian); OF. (Picard) toppe (cf. trois toppes ou vaisseaulx). See also toppet² and cf. tap n.³, topnet, tapnet.]
    A basket, as a measure of grapes or figs.

1440–1 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 78 It. in ij sorttes ficuum et racemorum magnorum cum viij toppes racemorum magnorum. 1530–1 Durham Househ. Bk. (Surtees) 44, 7 fraylls ficuum et 1 tope racemorum magnorum.

▪ IV. top, v.¹
    (tɒp)
    Also (5 toppyn), 6–7 toppe, (7 tope).
    [f. top n.¹, in various senses.]
    I. † 1. intr. To fight, struggle, strive. Obs.
    [For the original sense of this and its connexion with that of the n., cf. obs. Du. ‘toppen, tobben crines pugnando invadere, crinibus apprehendere’ (Kilian); Ger. zupfen, formerly zopfen to pull by the hair, pull, pluck.]

c 1305 Pilate 15 in E.E.P. (1862) 111 Þat child..and pilatus also..to-gadere were ido As hi wexe hi toppede ofte, þer nas bituene hem no loue Ac þat child riȝt biȝute euer was aboue. c 1315 Shoreham vii. 577 Ac þo hy hedde ine heuene y-topped Wy nedde hy be ine helle y-stopped For evere mo. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 496/2 Toppyn, or fechte be the nekke (..P. feightyn by the nek).

II. To deprive of the top.
† 2. trans. To cut off (the hair of the head), poll (the head), crop (a person). Obs.

c 1330 Arth. & Merl. (Kölbing) 7715 For diol he topped of his hare And him self tobete and tare. 14.. Beryn 2917 Getith a peir sisours, sherith my berd..And aftirward lete top my hede. 1632 Star Chamb. Cases (Camden) 112 Lord Privy Seale..found great fault with his long ruffian-like haire, and would have topped him if the vote of the Court had been for it.

3. a. To cut off the top of (a growing tree, a plant, or the like); to poll or pollard (a tree); to lop, prune, or shorten back (branches or shoots); to cut or break off the head, flower, or ear of (a plant), the withered calyx from (a gooseberry or other fruit); often in phr. to top and lop, top and tail.

1509 Brasenose Coll. Doc. C² 40 He shall toppe ne byhede Elme Asshe ne Oke. 1616 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., Payd for toping of treses. 1637 Earl of Monmouth tr. Malvezzi's Romulus & Tarq. 225 Hee tops off the heads of the highest flowers. 1649 Lovelace Grass-hopper iv, Sharpe frosty fingers all your Flow'rs have topt. 1688 J. Clayton in Phil. Trans. XVII. 982 They top their Tobacco, that is, take away the little top-bud. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 58 Topping and Tailing is the clearing both ends of the hemp with the hatchell. 1824 L. M. Hawkins Mem., etc. II. 52 A gentleman..was topping and tailing gooseberries for wine. 1894 R. H. Elliot Gold, Sport, etc. in Mysore 387 Some planters top [the coffee trees] at from three to three and a half feet.

b. transf. and fig., or in fig. context.

1605 1st Pt. Ieronimo iii. ii, Ile top thy head for that ambitious word. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. x. xxii, Topping rank desires which vain exceed. 1690 Locke Govt. i. vi. (Rtldg.) 60 Just as Procrustes did with his guests, top or stretch them. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge vii, Those prejudices of society which lop and top from poor handmaidens all such genteel excrescences.

(b) to top and tail colloq., to wash the face and bottom of (a baby or small child); also absol.; hence top-and-tail attrib. phr., top-and-tailing vbl. n. Cf. topping vbl. n.¹ 1 h.

1924 H. de Sélincourt Cricket Match ii. 22 She topped and tailed each small boy with the same rubber sponge. 1931 P. W. Yeomans Happy Motherhood vii. 61, 5.50 to 6.20 p.m.—Top-and-tail wash, and feed baby. 1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day ii. 31 We did not go in for a desperate amount of washing—top-and-tailing twice a day, and a hip-bath once a week. 1964 Guardian 24 June 6/2 Freda showed me how to top and tail (which is done on the lap because these babies do not get enough cuddling). 1983 Woman's Weekly 8 Jan. 53/3 There is no need to bath your new baby more than twice a week, ‘topping and tailing’ on the other days.

† 4. To snuff (a candle). Obs.

1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 50 The candle..after it is newly topped. 1607 Middleton Your Five Gallants i. i, Top the candle, sirrah. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. T., Top, the signal among taylors for snuffing the candles. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack xxii, Let us top this glim a bit.

5. To pare off the surface soil of (land).

1638 A. Cant Serm. in Kerr Covenants & Cov. (1895) 120 The mountain must not be pared or topped.

6. Orig., to put to death by hanging; perh. originally to behead; cf. topsman. Now usu. simply, to kill (someone); chiefly refl., to commit suicide. slang.

1718 C. Hitchin Regulator in F. J. Lyons Jonathan Wild (1936) 238 He, being known to be an old practitioner, will certainly be cast and top'd, alias hang'd for the same. 1811 Lexicon Balatr. s.v., The cove was topped for smashing queer screens. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) III. 387/1 Thirty-six were cast for death, and only one was ‘topped’. 1904 A. Griffiths 50 Y. Public Service xxii. 337 [One] hoped the day would be fine when he was to be topped. 1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights 30 He also took my tie and belt so that I could not top myself. 1961 [see slag n.¹ 5 (b)]. 1983 Listener 3 Feb. 18/3, I have to try and get a key to it all, otherwise I'll just top myself. 1984 M. Litchfield See how they Run xvii. 157 That shooter..wasn't used to top Frost.

7. To shorten the teeth of (a toothed or cogwheel, etc.); cf. topper n.¹ 1.

1874 [implied in topper n.¹ 1]. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 74 Very slightly top the wheel by holding a piece of Arkansas stone against the teeth. Ibid. 152 If the lockings are too deep..the wheel is too large and should be topped.

III. To put a top on or form a top to.
8. To furnish with a top; to put a top on; to cover or surmount, crown, cap (with). Also fig. Cf. sense 16, with which this sometimes blends.

1581 A. Hall Iliad vii. 133 When as their towres they topt aloft, and rampires great did raise. 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus U iij b, I suppose that..Nanes and Dwarfes muste needes be topped with such heades. 1679 O. Heywood Diaries, etc. (1881) II. 188 To Roger Stocks, topping orchard wal. 1705 Addison Italy, Tirol 527 The little Notredame..topp'd with a Cupola. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. I. v. 294 The practice..of topping the flanking round towers with conical roofs.

9. a. To complete by putting the top on, or forming the top of (a stack, etc.): often to top up; hence (colloq.) to put the finishing touch to (a process); to finish off, round off, crown.

1504 [see topping vbl. n.¹ 1 a].

1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 35 The other comming behinde with a rake, to correckt, toppe up, and finish the cocke [of hay]. 1787 M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) I. 231 Her hair in front is craped at least a foot high,..and topped off with a wire skeleton in the same form covered with black gauze. 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville I. 162 The chiefs leading the van, the braves following in a long line, painted and decorated, and topped off with fluttering plumes. 1872 O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. ii, He has topped off his home training with a..foreign finish. 1892 Cornh. Mag. Oct. 363 One [governess] grounded and another topped. 1903 Morley Gladstone III. viii. xii. 217 The sea voyage that was to ‘top up’ the rest and the treatment.

b. absol. or intr. To finish up or off, wind up, conclude (with something). colloq.

1836 J. H. Newman Lett. 15 Apr. (1891) II. 189 Before they would venture to top up with such a..startling enunciation. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxv, We had the usual southeaster..and finally topped off with a drenching rain of three or four hours. 1848 Thackeray Bk. Snobs xxxix, They absorb pale⁓ale.., and top-up with glasses of strong waters. 1870 Daily News 6 Oct., Then you..find the inmates of another room topping off with chocolate or coffee. 1885 Rider Haggard K. Solomon's Mines i, Everything went wrong that trip, and to top up with I got the fever badly.

c. to top (up) one's fruit, punnet, etc., to put the best fruit on the top of the basket, punnet, etc. Market slang.

1888 [see topping vbl. n.¹ 1 a]. 1891 Brit. Workman Aug., I mean..that you're a topper... You've been topping your punnets. 1896 Jrnl. R. Hortic. Soc. Nov. 209 A grower who does not top up his fruit deserves to be canonised.

10. trans. a. Dyeing. To give a final bath of colour to; to finish off (a dyeing process) with a certain dye. b. To top-dress land. c. To stain the tips of the hair of (fur).

1856 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XVII. i. 188 A friend of mine always tops from 1½ to 2 cwt. [of salt] per acre before ploughing the clover leys. 1874 Crookes Dyeing & Calico-Print. 526 Such increase of oxalic acid is not recommended for topping blacks. 1875 F. J. Bird Dyer's Handbk. 35 Top⁓off with serge blue to shade. 1882 Crookes Dyeing & Tissue-Print. 118 Lift, and top in a fresh water with magenta and a little alum. 1910 W. Parker in Encycl. Brit. XI. 352/2 The paler skins from all districts in Siberia are now cleverly coloured or ‘topped’, that is, just the tips of the hair are stained dark.

11. To ‘cover’, copulate with. Cf. tup v. Now only U.S.

1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 396. Ibid. v. ii. 136. 1633 Ford Love's Sacr. iii. i, Oh, for three Barbary stone-horses to top three Flanders mares! 1959 W. Faulkner Mansion i. 14 My young bull topped her last week.

IV. To exceed or come up to in height.
12. a. trans. To exceed in height; to overtop; also to exceed in weight, amount, number, etc.

1582 Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 50 Two serpents..charg Laocoon..His neck eke chayning with tayls, hym in quantitye topping. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 380 When they come to top them, [they] will quickly shade, and so kill them. 1747 Gentl. Mag. Dec. 589/1 The sea ran so high at Rotterdam, as to top two stories of many houses. 1760 R. Brown Compl. Farmer ii. 82 White oats..come up sooner, and top the weeds better than black. 1867 F. Francis Angling iii. (1880) 57 Many of them topped two pounds. 1887 Besant The World went ix, She was so tall that she topped her father..by a head. 1901 Daily Express 21 Mar. 5/4 Thames..topped the Trinity high water mark by 3½ feet.

b. To surpass, excel, outdo; to cap.

1586 Marlowe 1st Pt. Tamburl. ii. iii, But, when you see his actions top his speech Your speech will stay. 1607 Shakes. Cor. ii. i. 23 Topping all others in boasting. 1787 Burke Corr. (1844) III. 55 A measure, if possible, to top the former. 1852 Thackeray Esmond iii. v, [One] who for fun and humour seemed to top them all.

13. a. To rise above; to mount beyond the level of.

1773 Poetry in Ann. Reg. 233 Another bird, just flushing at the sound, Scarce tops the fence, then tumbles to the ground. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. xviii, My head topped the platform of rock. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 159 At last the low sun topped the garden-wall. 1883 Century Mag. XXVI. 376 The sun was just topping the maples when [etc.].

b. To get or leap over the top of, to surmount.

1735 Somerville Chase ii. 164 With Emulation fir'd They..top the barr'd Gate, O'er the deep Ditch exulting bound. 1826 Sporting Mag. XVII. 242 Topping a high paling, he makes play over the country. 1835 Sir G. Stephen Adv. Search Horse xvi. 241 Many a little horse will top a fence that he cannot put his nose over.

14. To reach the top of, ascend to the top of.

1600 W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 75 Their harts were inflamed with flashes of conspiracies, how to top the highest place. a 1668 Denham Of Prudence Poems 157 Wind about, till thou have topp'd the Hill. 1775 Burke Sp. Conc. Amer. Wks. III. 63 Already they have topped the Apalachian mountains. 1807 J. Barlow Columb. i. 204 The sun's blue ray Topt unknown cliffs and call'd them up to day. 1865 Kingsley Herew. vi, A pale yellow line, seen only as they topped a wave. 1886 Corbett Fall of Asgard I. 61 As they topped the crags that overhung the tarn.

15. Theatr. to top one's part, to play one's part to its utmost possibilities or to perfection; also, to transcend the character assigned to one; transf. to sustain (a character) with success. to top the officer (Naut.): see quot. 1867.

1672 Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Rehearsal iii. i. (Arb.) 71 He does not hit me in't: he does not top his part. 1697 Dennis Plot & no Plot A iij, But are you sure, Daughter, that you can act a fit of the Mother well?.. Ay, and top my part too, Mother. 1761 Churchill Rosciad 46 Palmer! Oh! Palmer tops the janty part. 1786 Earl Malmesbury Diaries & Corr. II. 219 Warm as I am in wishing to see her [England] once more topping her part on the Continent. 1797 A. M. Bennett Beggar Girl (1813) IV. 212 Delighted to be queen of the company where she might top the great personage. 1827 Hare Guesses Ser. ii. (1848) 72 By diligently performing the part assigned to him, by topping it, as the phrase is. 1831 Examiner 177/1 The Opposition..are acting up to their character—nay, topping their parts. 1833 Marryat P. Simple lii, I've been hail-fellow well met with the ship's company so long, that I can't top the officer over them. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Top the officer, to, to arrogate superiority.

16. a. To be at the top of, constitute the top of. (In literal sense often running together with 8.) Also fig. to be the first, chief, or best of, to be at the head of, to take the lead in. Freq. in phr. to top the bill: to be at the top of a bill of entertainment (bill n.³ 8 c); to be the star of a show; also fig. and with the entertainment as object.

1615 G. Sandys Trav. 42 Rhodope still topt with snow. 1629 Wadsworth Pilgr. iii. 14 A Dormitory, which containes three long Galleries topping the house. 1707 Reflex. upon Ridicule 21 They kindle against such as will be Topping and Monopolizing the Conversation. a 1734 North Lives (1826) I. 46 His youthful habits were never gay, or topping the mode. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 12 The decent church that topt the neighbouring hill. 1802 Mrs. J. West Infidel Father xvii. II. 208 It came in two winters ago for very high ladies to stand godmothers to the natural children of all their relations. Lady Random topped the fashion. 1850 Blackie æschylus II. 160 Mount the battlements: Top every tower; crown every parapet. 1861 Dixon Pers. Hist. Ld. Bacon xii. §7 In character as in intellect Bacon tops the list. 1910 Wodehouse Psmith in City 3 He is a man of hobbies... When I left the house this morning he was all for cricket... Cricket seems still to be topping the bill. 1933 P. Godfrey Back-Stage xiv. 179 The old favourites, when they still topped the bill, had to revise the material they had formerly worked. 1959 [see bill n.³ 8 c]. 1977 Sounds 9 July 4/4 Led Zeppelin remain favourites to top a one-day festival at Wrotham Park.

b. To have the supremacy over; to get the better of. Now freq. in U.S. Sport.

1633 Shirley Gamester iii. ii, I'll..send my nephew; he shall top and top him, And scourge him like a top too. 1681 Hickeringill Black Non-Conf. ii. Wks. 1716 II. 18 Legions of Lordly Priests and Cardinals that topt the whole world. 1832 Austin Jurispr. (1879) I. xxii. 462 Our aversion from the sanction tops the conflicting wish. 1951 Amer. Speech XXVI. 230/2 Dartmouth tops Harvard. 1974 State (Columbia, S. Carolina) 27 Feb. 3-b/1 The Panthers demolished both, topping Duquesne, 82–65, and trouncing Davidson in Charlotte, 90–63. 1979 Tucson (Arizona) Citizen 20 Sept. 8d/3 Boston topped Toronto, 8–0.

† c. intr. To have the supremacy. Obs. rare^—1.

1718 W. Wright in Wodrow's Corr. (1843) II. 353 But..the magistrates..were in as great danger as ever, for now the Cocceians begin to top.

V. Idiomatic uses, and phrases. (Chiefly slang.)
† 17. a. Dice-play. trans. and intr. To retain one of the dice at the top of the box by unfair manipulation, to palm the die: cf. top n.¹ 21; hence, to cheat, trick (a person). Obs.

1663 [see topping vbl. n.¹ 1 c]. 1671 [implied in topper n.¹ 1 b]. 1678 Dryden Limberham iv. i, I think in my Conscience he's Palming and Topping..before he comes into the World. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Top, to Cheat, or Trick any one; also to Insult. What do you Top upon me? do you stick a little Wax to the Dice to keep them together, to get the Chance? He thought to have Topt upon me, he design'd to have..Sharpt me,..or Affronted me. 1726 [see topping vbl. n.¹ 1 c].

† b. intr. To practise cheating or trickery; to impose upon; in quots. 1697, 1709, with mixture of sense ‘to encroach or obtrude upon’. Obs.

1664 G. Etherege Com. Revenge ii. iii, How neatly I could tope upon him! 1676 Shadwell Virtuoso i. i, A Rascal..that would Slur and top upon our Understandings. 1697 Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. i. (1709) 49 When a Man finds his Hopes disappointed, himself unsupported, and topp'd upon by Persons of meaner Pretences and Employments. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, To Passe upon one, to top upon him, or impose upon him. Ibid. [see a above]. 1709 J. Johnson Clergym. Vade M. ii. p. lxxxvii, Patriarchs..did, in the latter end of the 4th, and in the 5th century top upon the Metropolitans, and reduced many great Provinces with their Bishops under the direction of one. Ibid. 118 They were still growing and topping upon their neighbours.

† c. trans. To impose (a thing) upon a person; to foist, fob off, palm off upon. Obs.

1672–5 T. Comber Comp. Temple (1702) 558 It is no less than Blasphemy to Top a device of Men upon the People whom they were to lead into all Truth. 1682 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 73 (1713) II. 199 'Tis but topping upon 'em a Sermon now and then about Mortification. 1712 in Somers Tracts (1815) XIII. 211 As to the topping a king upon the throne of Spain, so by the same reason the king of France by his power may top the Pretender on England. 1733 Revolution Politicks ii. 63 The Pope and his Jesuits..were going to top Popery and Slavery upon us in good earnest.

† d. To insult. Obs. slang.

a 1700 [see a above]. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. T., Top,..to insult.

† e. trans. To oppose. Cf. in tops with (top n.¹ 23). Obs. rare^—1.

1641 R. Baillie Lett. (1841) I. 390 Whill Argyle topes this nomination, as of a man unmeet, because of irresponsableness to the law for his debts.

18. a. to top a ball (Golf), to hit the ball above its centre; so to top one's drive, to top. b. to top a clout (Thieves' slang): see quot. c. to top the deck (Card-sharping): to cause a particular card to fall on the top of the pack. d. to top a saw (U.S.): to fix a stiffening piece or a gauge for limiting the depth of the cut (Cent. Dict.).

a. 1881 Forgan Golfer's Handbk. 24 For ball I when struck will be ‘topped’ with the result of lacerating the turf. 1889 Scott. Leader 20 Apr. 6 He who never, or hardly ever, ‘tops’ a ball does not undergo the temptations to cast all his clubs into the whins. 1893 A. Lang in Longm. Mag. Apr. 652 My cleek seems merely made to top. 1894 Times 28 Apr. 13/3 Playing to the first hole Mr. L― topped his drive, and Mr. B― won the hole in 4 to 5.

b. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Top, to top a clout or other article (among pickpockets) is to draw the corner or end of it to the top of a person's pocket, in readiness for..taking out, when a favourable moment occurs.

c. 1894 Maskelyne Sharps & Flats v. 83 [The cuff holdout] is a neat invention to top the deck. Ibid. 86 The cards are simply slipped between the jaws, where they are held until required. The hands being crossed..the lever is pressed and the cards fall upon the top of the pack... This operation is termed technically ‘topping the deck’.

VI. Idiomatically combined with adverbs. (See also sense 9.)
19. top off. a. intr. Of a ship, aircraft, etc.: to fill up or complete a cargo. Cf. sense 20 b below. colloq. (chiefly U.S.).

1937 G. S. Doorly In Wake 22 A tramp steamer..called in to the Gulf to top-off with sugar. 1950 Sun (Baltimore) 3 July 14/2 Ships go to other ports to ‘top off’. 1961 Aeroplane C. 761/2 Since the passenger carriers..‘top-off’ with cargo, it..seems fair and reasonable to permit the all-cargo carriers to carry cargo and to ‘top-off’ with passengers. 1978 H. Wouk War & Remembrance v. 46 We top off, take on provisions and torpedoes, and go.

b. trans. To fill up to the top (a tank already partly full) with fuel. U.S. colloq.

1943 F. J. Bell Condition Red 16 There'll be a fuel barge alongside some time tonight to top us off. 1953 C. A. Lindbergh Spirit of St. Louis ii. vi. 182 The fuel tanks would need topping off again. 1970 N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon iii. 65 White streaks of vapor were emitted by the fuel tanks—which were constantly being ‘topped off’. 1979 Farmington (New Mexico) Daily Times 27 May 3c/6 If everyone in New Mexico topped off their tank, that would use about 10 million gallons of gasoline.

c. intr. = top out, sense 20 c below.

1970 Toronto Daily Star 24 Sept. 4/2 If wage rates show signs of topping off, the Cabinet can face Parliament. 1976 Survey Spring 60 The progressive character of the scale tops off at 3 per cent of earnings for any income over 300 R/mo.

20. top out. a. trans. To put the finishing touch to (the roof of a building, etc.), freq. (in modern times) accompanied by some form of ceremony. colloq.

1834 W. Sewall Diary 22 Dec. (1930) 160 Topped out house chimney, and went to saw mill. 1962 Engineering 16 Nov. 640 The dome was ‘topped out’ on 2 November. 1969 Daily Tel. 18 Apr. 27 (caption) Ald. Walter C. Dennis, Mayor of Lambeth, toasting the workmen..when the G.L.C.'s..Lambeth Walk development was ‘topped out’ yesterday. 1979 Guardian 25 July 3/2 Britain's most expensive new homes in Knightsbridge, London, were ‘topped out’ at a champagne reception yesterday.

b. Of a ship: to fill up or complete (its cargo). Also absol. Cf. sense 19 a above. U.S. colloq.

1940 Sun (Baltimore) 16 Apr. 24/6 Preparations were being made to tow her into the stream to ‘top out’ a 12,500-ton cargo. 1941 Ibid. 24 June 22/4 Every ship..‘topped out’ with scrap, if there was any room left.

c. intr. To reach a peak, to cease rising. Cf. sense 19 c above and bottom v. 4 c.

1972 Sunday Tel. 26 Mar. 30/4 Gilts now look as though they have topped out, and this is another sign that we are in the late stages of this bull market. 1972 Guardian 24 June 10/6 World population, he says, will probably top out at 10,000 millions sometime in the twenty-first century. 1979 Sci. Amer. Feb. 28/1 From the 10th century to the Mongol Wars, numbers rose, topping out in A.D. 1200.

21. top up. trans. a. To bring (something) up to its full capacity; to fill to the top (a partly full container, spec. (the cells of) a motor vehicle's battery). Used esp. with reference to a drinker's glass, freq. with the person as object. Occas. absol. and transf.

1937 Times 13 Apr. p. xxii/2 In order to help the owner-driver to look after his battery, a combined acid-level indicator, vent plug and filler cup has been introduced, thus enabling the cells to be ‘topped up’ accurately and visibly, without removing the vent plugs. 1946 Happy Landings July 12/1 Failure to..top-up brake pressure..and to check the voltage readings of batteries, are common examples. 1958 Times 1 Mar. 6/3 Liquid oxygen..to top up its [sc. a missile's] fuel tanks. 1960 ‘N. Shute’ Trustee from Toolroom ix. 237 We'll need water, and top up with diesel fuel. 1965 Listener 18 Nov. 800/3 Tea is expensive..so you economize by topping up your mug with hot water. 1969 ‘R. Petrie’ in E. Queen's Mystery Mag. Mar. 33/1 Jim Morris tiptoed over to the sideboard for the bottle of brandy... Top him up, he told himself. 1971 ‘E. Ferrars’ Stranger & Afraid iii. 40 She..picked up the glass of sherry that she had started earlier. He said at once, ‘Shall I top that up?’ and..filled the glass to the brim. 1976 J. I. M. Stewart Memorial Service i. 14, I tried to teach him how to translate Tacitus, but had more success in topping him up with madeira. 1981 G. Boycott In Fast Lane xi. 79 There was at least three feet of water in the main channel, constantly topped up by torrential showers.

b. fig.

1968 Listener 27 June 835/3 They..topped up the Welfare State with plenty of money for its more exquisite and bizarre excrescences. 1973 Times 20 Oct. 20/3 (heading) Topping up a mortgage with a loan from a life office. 1976 Scotsman 27 Dec. 1/2 It proposes a Scottish Assembly of 100 members... An Assembly member elected for each of the 71 parliamentary constituencies, ‘topped up’ by 29 additional members.

▪ V. top, v.²
    (tɒp)
    Forms: 5–6 toppe, 6– top; see also tope v.¹
    [Of uncertain origin: appears doubtfully in 1497, certainly in 1549; in regular nautical use in 1627 and onward. So mod.Du. and Ger. toppen. Possibly a special application of top v.¹, or an independent deriv. of top n.¹; but the difficulty is increased by the synonymous tope v.¹ It is also possible that branch II is a distinct word; but tope v.¹ also has both senses.]
    I. Naut.
    1. trans. To tip up or slant (a yard), by tilting up one arm and depressing the other; sometimes = peak v.³, to tilt up vertically or nearly so; but sometimes more loosely, to alter the position of (a yard), whether by raising, depressing, or levelling it.
    The exact meaning in quot. 1497 is not clear; ? to shore the ship up.

[1497 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 249 To Retourne the seid mastes to Portesmouth where they served to toppe the Regent in the dokke at euery tyde bothe ebbe & flowde.] 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 41 Than the master cryit, top ȝour topinellis. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. v. 24 The Lifts are two ropes which belong to all yards armes, to top the yards; that is, to make them hang higher or lower at your pleasure. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xv. (Roxb.) 51/1 Top the yards, that is make them hang euen. 1762–9 Falconer Shipwr. ii. 261 Topp'd and unrigg'd, they [top-gallant yards] down the backstays run. 1769 ― Dict. Marine (1789), Apiquer une vergue, to top a sail-yard, or peek it up. 1802 Eng. Encycl. VIII. 431/1 ‘Top the yard to port!’ the order to make the larboard extremity of a yard higher than the other. 1816 Tuckey Narr. Exped. R. Zaire ii. (1818) 39 The Portuguese vesels putting themselves in mourning by topping their yards up and down. 1844 Hull Dock Act 91 No vessel shall enter..except the same have her yards topped up. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v. Boom, To top one's boom, to start off.

2. intr. To assume a slanting position, tip up, tilt up; = tip v.² 9.

c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 57 A martingale is sometimes used to prevent the davit from topping up.

II. 3. intr. To fall over, or to one side, by over-balancing; to tumble head foremost; = topple v. 1, tip v.² 8. to top over tail (cf. to towp tail over end, dial), to turn head over heels; cf. topple up tail (topple v. 3 b).

1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 47 To tumble ouer and ouer, to toppe ouer tayle..may be also holesome for the body. 1620 Shelton Quix. ii. xxix. 194 Don Quixote and Sancho topted [ed. 1746 top'd; (? error for topled = toppled)] into the Riuer.

4. trans. To tip or throw over, overturn, upset; = topple v. 3, tip v.² 1. Obs. exc. dial.

1662 Hibbert Body Div. i. 135 A little ship without ballast..is soon either dasht against the rocks, or topped over. c 1890 W. S. Pasmore Song of Press Gang 5 They took'd me up both neck and heels, And topped me into the zay.

▪ VI. † top, v.³ Obs.
[Origin obscure: known 1598. Perhaps identical with prec. vb., with the primary sense ‘to tip up into the mouth’, whence ‘to drink in large draughts’: cf. tip, tip off, tip v.² 5. See also tope v.², which is identical in sense, though, as in prec., the phonetic relation is difficult.]
1. trans. = tope v.² 1; to top off, to drink off, quaff; cf. tip off (tip v.² 5).

1598 R. Bernard tr. Terence's Adelphi i. i, It's no heinous offence for a young man to hunt harlots, to toppe of a canne roundly. 1690 D'Urfey Collin's Walk thro. London i. 41 This said, they top'd off t'other quart.

2. Only in pa. pple. (topt): Made tipsy, intoxicated, drunk. Cf. tip v.² 4.

a 1632 T. Taylor God's Judgem. vi. ii. (1642) 82 When she with her son were together topt with wine. 1637 Heywood Dial., Vulcan & Jupiter Wks. 1874 VI. 220 She leaps and capers, topt with rage divine.

▪ VII. top, v.⁴ rare.
[f. top n.² 3.]
trans. To lay (a rope) with a top: see top n.² 3.

1825 [see topping vbl. n.³].

▪ VIII. † top, prep. Obs. rare.
    In 4 toppe.
    [From top n.¹: app. either aphetic for atop B., or elliptical for top of.]
    Above, beyond, more than.

1340 Ayenb. 6 Hi ssolden him..toppe all þinges louie. Ibid. 248 Þise uirtue me ssel loky toppe alle þinges.

▪ IX. top
obs. Sc. form of tap v.¹