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top¹

  • /tɒp/ UK
  • [tʰɒp] UK
  • /tɑp/ US
  • [tʰɑp] US

Rhymes with -ɒp

Where it comes from

From Middle English top, toppe, from Old English topp (“top, highest part; summit; crest; tassel, tuft; (spinning) top, ball; a tuft or ball at the highest point of anything”), from Proto-West Germanic *topp, from Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“braid, pigtail, end”), of unknown ultimate origin. Compare typologically Latin apex (<< Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“to join, attach, fasten, fit”)).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Top (“top”), Cimbrian sòpf (“braid”), Dutch top (“top, summit, peak”), German Topp (“top of a mast”), Zopf (“braid, pigtail, plait, top”), Luxembourgish Zapp (“plait, tress”), Vilamovian cöp (“braid, plait”), Yiddish צאָפּ (tsop, “braid”), Danish top (“top”), Icelandic toppur (“top”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish topp (“top, peak, summit, tip”), Italian zuffa (“brawl”).

The sense of a spinning toy is separated from this, obscurely related to Dutch top and dop in this sense, against Standard Dutch tol, and French toupie having this sense.

noun tops

  1. countable, uncountable The highest or uppermost part of something. His kite got caught at the top of the tree.
  2. countable, uncountable The part of something that is usually highest or uppermost. We flipped the machine onto its top.
  3. countable, uncountable The uppermost part of a page, picture, viewing screen, etc. Further weather information can be found at the top of your television screen.
  4. countable, uncountable A lid, cap, or cover of a container. Put a top on the toothpaste tube or it will go bad.
  5. countable, uncountable A garment worn to cover the torso. I bought this top as it matches my jeans.
  6. countable, uncountable A framework at the top of a ship's mast to which rigging is attached.
  7. countable, uncountable The first half of an inning, during which the home team fields and the visiting team bats.
  8. archaic, countable, uncountable The crown of the head, or the hair upon it; the head. Like glauncing light of Phoebus brightest ray; From top to toe no place appeared bare
  9. countable, uncountable The near end of somewhere. The patio is at the top of my garden.
  10. countable, uncountable A child's spinning toy; a spinning top. The boy was amazed at how long the top would spin.
  11. archaic, countable, uncountable The chief person; the most prominent one. to be the top of zealots
  12. countable, uncountable The highest rank; the most honourable position; the utmost attainable place. to be at the top of one's class, or at the top of the school
  13. countable, uncountable A peak price of a security during a trading period, before it begins a downward trend. the daily average price of packer and shipper purchases ranging between $14 and $16. Beginning with the middle of September prices moved sharply upward until a top of $18.25 was reached during the week of Sept. 25. From this high point prices moved downward sharply […]
  14. countable, uncountable A dominant partner in a sadomasochistic relationship or roleplay. As I went on doing s/m more and more, I found the idea of topping real attractive and so I started to do that. At this point in my life I'm playing top almost all the time.
  15. broadly, countable, uncountable A dominant partner in a sexual relationship.
  16. countable, uncountable A person who penetrates or has a preference for penetrating during intercourse. I prefer being a top, and my boyfriend prefers being a bottom.
  17. Multicultural London English, countable, slang, uncountable, vulgar Fellatio; a blowjob. Running up a check, I'ma drop the top Baby gimme neck, you know I want some top You ain't tryna fuck, then baby don't just stop
  18. countable, particle, uncountable A top quark.
  19. countable, uncountable The utmost degree; the acme; the summit. June 18 1714, Alexander Pope, letter to Jonathan Swift The top of my own ambition is to contribute to that work.
  20. countable, uncountable A plug or conical block of wood with longitudinal grooves on its surface, in which the strands of the rope slide in the process of twisting.
  21. countable, uncountable Highest pitch or loudest volume. She sang at the top of her voice.
  22. countable, uncountable A bundle or ball of slivers of combed wool, from which the noils, or dust, have been taken out. Most cotton is sold as top, requiring only predrafting prior to spinning.
  23. countable, obsolete, uncountable Eve; verge; point. Hee was upon the top of his marriage with Magdalaine.
  24. countable, uncountable The part of a cut gem between the girdle, or circumference, and the table, or flat upper surface.
  25. countable, dated, in plural, slang, uncountable Topboots. There was one pair of boots in particular — a jolly, good-tempered, hearty-looking, pair of tops, that excited our warmest regard
  26. countable, uncountable A stroke on the top of the ball.
  27. countable, uncountable A forward spin given to the ball by hitting it on or near the top; topspin. What is wanted is just the reverse - i.e top or overspin, which causes the ball to revolve in the direction in which it is going.
  28. countable, uncountable (A table at which there is, or which has enough seats for) a group of a specified number of people eating at a restaurant. […] but with only three other tables on the patio apart from myself – two three-tops and a five-top – it's hard to imagine what the holdup is.
  29. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of topswarm.topswarm My first topswarm came off on the 25th June, and a second top on the day following; both were put into skeps of one size, and appeared to be equal as regards the number of Bees.
  30. countable, uncountable The First Sergeant or Master Sergeant (U.S. Marine Corps), senior enlisted man at company level.
  31. Philippines, countable, plural normally, uncountable a shoot (eaten as a vegetable).

verb tops · topping · topped

  1. To cover on the top or with a top. I like my ice cream topped with chocolate sauce.
  2. To exceed in height. Five were proper slender youths, the eldest of whom had not yet beard full grown, black-browed and great of jaw; the sixth, huge as a neat, topped them by half a head.
  3. To excel, to surpass, to beat, to exceed. Titanic was the most successful film ever until it was topped by another Cameron film, Avatar.
  4. To be in the lead, to be at number one position (of). Celine Dion topped the UK music charts twice in the 1990s.
  5. To cut or remove the top (as of a tree) I don't want to be bald, so just top my hair.
  6. Australia, UK, reflexive, slang To commit suicide. Depression causes many people to top themselves.
  7. Australia, UK, archaic, rare, slang To murder or execute. Thirty-six were cast for death, and only one was ‘topped’ (hanged), the very one that expected to be ‘turned up’ (acquitted) for highway robbery.
  8. To be the dominant partner in a BDSM relationship or roleplay. I used to be a slave, but I ended up topping.
  9. intransitive, transitive To penetrate during sexual intercourse.
  10. archaic To rise aloft; to be eminent; to tower. topping passions
  11. archaic To excel; to rise above others.
  12. To raise one end of (a yard, etc.), making it higher than the other.
  13. To cover with another dye. to top aniline black with methyl violet to prevent greening
  14. To put a stiffening piece or back on (a saw blade).
  15. dated, slang To arrange (fruit, etc.) with the best on top.
  16. To strike the top of (an obstacle) with the hind feet while jumping, so as to gain new impetus.
  17. To improve (domestic animals, especially sheep) by crossing certain individuals or breeds with other superior breeds.
  18. To cut, break, or otherwise take off the top of (a steel ingot) to remove unsound metal.
  19. To strike (the ball) above the centre; also, to make (a stroke, etc.) by hitting the ball in this way.

adjective

  1. not comparable Situated on the top of something.
  2. informal, not comparable Best; of the highest quality, fame or rank. She's in the top dance school.
  3. informal, not comparable Very good, of high quality, power, or rank. He's a top lawyer.
  4. not comparable Relating to the chest or breasts. top surgery

adverb

  1. not comparable Best, highest. Our product is top-rated on all major platforms.

interjection

  1. obsolete The signal among tailors and seamstresses for snuffing the candle. The last of them to cry "top" had to snuff the candle. My hairs, you perceive, are grown grey in following our sublime trade: full many a time have I cried top in the winter, the first of all the gentlemen on the board; and many a time has it fallen to my lot to apply the snuffers, and take off the filthy excrescence from the candle myself, but never be

Top²

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Dutch and German Top.

proper noun Tops

  1. A surname.

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