Word: topper Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English toppor, equivalent to top + -er. Pronunciation: /ˈtɒpə/, /ˈtɑpɚ/, /ˈtɔpə/ 1. Something that is on top. Example: Deal for network star Henry Morgan to sign a Majestic contract for two albums has fallen thru, with Paul Baron, newly-named artist and repertoire topper at the diskery, kiboshing a deal that virtually had been consummated between his predecessors and Music Corporation of America (MCA). Example: Chicken livers, of course, can also be gently fried, mashed in butter, and spread as a toast topper. 2. A top hat. Example: When King George sat down in Perylon Hall he thrust his gray topper under the chair, just as you do when you're in the Automat. Example: This is another area in which it's hard to tell the dude from the twitcher, as ratting caps and deerstalkers, flying helmets and even toppers are considered acceptably eccentric. 3. Something that exceeds those previous in a series, as a joke or prank. Example: In his latest standup set, his topper is a callback to the dog bowl story. 4. A short outer jacket worn by women or children. Labels: US Example: She was wearing her short pink topper and the small red hat that tilted over one eye so that she looked like a refugee starlet from the Gold Diggers film series. 5. A soft, relatively thin, piece of padding placed on top of a mattress, or forming the upper layer of a mattress. 6. The student who achieves the highest score in an examination. Labels: India 7. The head or chief of an organization. Labels: colloquial Example: Cooley currently is ironing out details of the proposed kinescoping with Klaus Landsberg, topper at KTLA, over whose facilities the hour-long show has been telecast […] 8. A person or tool that cuts off the top of something. Example: At first, in the pines, he had worked as a topper in his strong and boldest days, walking up the trees two hundred feet […] Example: The only problem is that the best egg toppers, which are different from egg cutters, are an investment — the Inox professional egg topper is $55 at surlatable.com . 9. One who tops steel ingots. 10. A single-handed dinghy, 11 foot (3.6 metres) in length, with only one sail. 11. A three-square float, or file, used by comb-makers. 12. Tobacco left in the bottom of a pipe bowl; so called from being often taken out and placed on top of the newly filled bowl. Labels: dated, slang Example: One man was faithful to his pipe, and kept / Despair and deeper misery at bay, / By seeking ever for a "topper," dropped / From some spurned pipe, but that he could not find; […] 13. A fine or remarkable thing or person. Labels: dated, slang Example: It was a topper of a day for a Sale, although the heat would be hard on the beasts that had come a long way. 14. A blow on the head. Labels: dated, slang 15. A small secondary comic strip seen along with a larger Sunday strip, and usually by the same author. 16. A pencil sharpener. Labels: Ireland 17. Ellipsis of hair topper. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis Example: These toppers are crafted with a lower density of hair, which makes them blend seamlessly Example: A topper is a hairpiece or partial wig designed to add volume and coverage to specific areas of the scalp, effectively concealing thinning hair