top
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /tɒp/
ipa: [tʰɒp]
ipa: /tɑp/
ipa: [tʰɑp]
rhymes: -ɒp
Forms: form: tops
form: topping
form: topped
form: topped
Etymology: 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.
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.
Senses: examples: text: I like my ice cream topped with chocolate sauce.
glosses: To cover on the top or with a top.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 17:
glosses: To exceed in height.
examples: text: Titanic was the most successful film ever until it was topped by another Cameron film, Avatar.
text: Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed, / And my invention thrive, Edmund the base / Shall top th' legitimate. I grow; I prosper
ref: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
text: Within months, sales of ONE magazine were topping 2,000 copies.
ref: 2005 August 23, Leslie Feinberg, “Headwaters of first mass political gay movement rise”, in Workers World:
text: The HSDT team, however, had some work to do, although by the end of 1972 the power car interior had been adjusted and BR had agreed to 'double-manning' with extra pay when speeds topped the ton. [exceeded 100 mph]
ref: 2021 October 6, Greg Morse, “A need for speed and the drive for 125”, in RAIL, number 941, page 50:
synonyms: word: beat
word: better
word: best
word: exceed
word: bear away the bell
word: best
word: better
word: overtake
word: dwarf
word: eclipse
word: exceed
word: excel
word: hold the cards
word: outclass
word: outdo
word: outmatch
word: outperform
word: outrival
word: outrun
word: outshadow
word: outshine
word: outstrip
word: outvie
word: overmatch
word: overshadow
word: pass
word: prevail
word: put to shame
word: run away with
word: surpass
word: top
word: transcend
word: trump
word: upstage
glosses: To excel, to surpass, to beat, to exceed.
examples: text: Celine Dion topped the UK music charts twice in the 1990s.
text: Liverpool topped the table on Christmas Day and, after Arsenal's win at West Ham earlier on Boxing Day, would have returned to the top had they been the first team to beat City at home this season.
ref: 2013 December 26, Phil McNulty, BBC Sport:
glosses: To be in the lead, to be at number one position (of).
examples: text: I don't want to be bald, so just top my hair.
text: Top and tail the carrots.
text: Topping depletes the tree of stored energy reserves and reduces the tree's ability to produce energy, as a large percentage of the leaves are removed.
ref: 2003, Dan Prendergast, Erin Prendergast, The Tree Doctor: A Guide to Tree Care and Maintenance, →ISBN, page 78:
glosses: To cut or remove the top (as of a tree)
examples: text: Depression causes many people to top themselves.
glosses: To commit suicide.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861:
synonyms: word: kill
word: murder
word: slaughter
word: slay
word: annihilate
word: bag
word: baptize
word: bereave of life
word: blight
word: bring down
word: bump off
word: bury
word: cack
word: compromised to a permanent end
word: croak
word: crush
word: dash
word: deactivate
word: dead
word: demolish
word: destroy
word: dispatch
word: dispose of
word: do
word: do in
word: dust
word: eliminate
word: end
word: eradicate
word: ex
word: exterminate
word: finish
word: finish off
word: flatten
word: grease
word: knock off
word: lay waste to
word: make away with
word: mortify
word: neutralize
word: obliterate
word: off
word: pay off
word: pick off
word: polish off
word: pop off
word: punch someone's ticket
word: put an end to
word: put down
word: put someone out of their misery
word: put six feet under
word: put to sleep
word: ravage
word: rub out
word: ruin
word: scotch
word: scupper
word: scuttle
word: send to eternity
word: send to hell
word: send to the grave
word: send to the great beyond
word: send to the next life
word: slay
word: slaughter
word: smash
word: smite
word: snuff
word: squash
word: stiff
word: stop someone's clock
word: take
word: terminate
word: terminate with extreme prejudice
word: top off
word: top
word: torpedo
word: take care of
word: take down
word: take out
word: waste
word: wax
word: wet
word: whack
word: wipe out
word: wreck
glosses: To murder or execute.
examples: text: I used to be a slave, but I ended up topping.
text: Giving advice to the dominant partner on how to run the BDSM session is called "topping from the bottom".
text: 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.
ref: 1981 August 15, Nancy Wechsler, “Sadomasochism: Fears, Facts, Fantasies”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 5, page 8:
topics: BDSM
lifestyle
sexuality
glosses: To be the dominant partner in a BDSM relationship or roleplay.
qualifier: LGBTQ slang
glosses: To penetrate during intercourse.
examples: text: topping passions
text: lofty and topping mountains
ref: 1713, W[illiam] Derham, Physico-Theology: Or, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, from His Works of Creation. […], London: […] W[illiam] Innys, […], →OCLC:
text: , Book II, Chapter XXI
influenced by that topping uneasiness
glosses: To rise aloft; to be eminent; to tower.
glosses: To excel; to rise above others.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: To raise one end of (a yard, etc.), making it higher than the other.
examples: text: to top aniline black with methyl violet to prevent greening
topics: business
dyeing
manufacturing
textiles
glosses: To cover with another dye.
glosses: To put a stiffening piece or back on (a saw blade).
glosses: To arrange (fruit, etc.) with the best on top.
glosses: To strike the top of (an obstacle) with the hind feet while jumping, so as to gain new impetus.
raw_tags: of a horse
glosses: To improve (domestic animals, especially sheep) by crossing certain individuals or breeds with other superior breeds.
glosses: To cut, break, or otherwise take off the top of (a steel ingot) to remove unsound metal.
topics: golf
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To strike (the ball) above the centre; also, to make (a stroke, etc.) by hitting the ball in this way.
Derived terms: top from the bottom
top it all
top it all off
top it off
top off
top one's boom
top oneself
top out
top the charts
top up
to top it off
untopped