Word: top Part of Speech: noun 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. 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. Pronunciation: /tɒp/, [tʰɒp], /tɑp/, [tʰɑp] 1. The highest or uppermost part of something. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: His kite got caught at the top of the tree. Example: But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. […]The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook,[…]. 2. The highest or uppermost part of something. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: We flipped the machine onto its top. Example: To mount the V8, I simply placed it on its top, and then prepped the mobo/CPU for installation (applied thermal compound). 3. The highest or uppermost part of something. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Further weather information can be found at the top of your television screen. Example: Headings appear at the tops of pages. 4. The highest or uppermost part of something. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Put a top on the toothpaste tube or it will go bad. 5. The highest or uppermost part of something. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: I bought this top as it matches my jeans. Example: I like this pyjama top. 6. The highest or uppermost part of something. Labels: countable, uncountable 7. The highest or uppermost part of something. Labels: countable, uncountable 8. The highest or uppermost part of something. Labels: archaic, countable, uncountable Example: Like glauncing light of Phoebus brightest ray; From top to toe no place appeared bare Example: All the stored vengeances of Heaven fall / On her ungrateful top! 9. The near end of somewhere. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The patio is at the top of my garden. Example: The shop is at the top of my street. 10. A child's spinning toy; a spinning top. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The boy was amazed at how long the top would spin. 11. Someone who is eminent. Labels: archaic, countable, uncountable Example: to be the top of zealots 12. Someone who is eminent. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: to be at the top of one's class, or at the top of the school Example: And wears upon his baby brow the round / And top of sovereignty. 13. A peak price of a security during a trading period, before it begins a downward trend. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. A dominant partner in a sadomasochistic relationship or roleplay. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. A dominant partner in a sadomasochistic relationship or roleplay. Labels: broadly, countable, uncountable 16. A person who penetrates or has a preference for penetrating during intercourse. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: I prefer being a top, and my boyfriend prefers being a bottom. Example: Jean-Alain is a man of great physical strength, and Jesse is sure he is quite a handful for his tops. 17. Fellatio; a blowjob. Labels: Multicultural-London-English, countable, slang, uncountable, vulgar Example: 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 Example: I get some top in my coupe […] Look at yo bitch she gon' choose She gon' give me top (on my block Avenue) 18. A top quark. Labels: countable, particle, uncountable 19. The utmost degree; the acme; the summit. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: June 18 1714, Alexander Pope, letter to Jonathan Swift The top of my own ambition is to contribute to that work. 20. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable 21. Highest pitch or loudest volume. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: She sang at the top of her voice. Example: I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan. 22. A bundle or ball of slivers of combed wool, from which the noils, or dust, have been taken out. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Most cotton is sold as top, requiring only predrafting prior to spinning. 23. Eve; verge; point. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable Example: Hee was upon the top of his marriage with Magdalaine. 24. The part of a cut gem between the girdle, or circumference, and the table, or flat upper surface. Labels: countable, uncountable 25. Topboots. Labels: countable, dated, in-plural, slang, uncountable Example: There was one pair of boots in particular — a jolly, good-tempered, hearty-looking, pair of tops, that excited our warmest regard 26. A stroke on the top of the ball. Labels: countable, uncountable 27. A forward spin given to the ball by hitting it on or near the top; topspin. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. (A table at which there is, or which has enough seats for) a group of a specified number of people eating at a restaurant. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: […] 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. Example: It is uncanny how a server can stand in front of a ten top, without the safety net of pen and paper, and remember every item ordered by each guest including salads, […] 29. Ellipsis of topswarm. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Example: 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. The First Sergeant or Master Sergeant (U.S. Marine Corps), senior enlisted man at company level. Labels: countable, uncountable 31. a shoot (eaten as a vegetable). Labels: Philippines, countable, plural-normally, uncountable