Word: top Part of Speech: verb 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. To cover on the top or with a top. Example: I like my ice cream topped with chocolate sauce. 2. To exceed in height. Example: 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. Example: Titanic was the most successful film ever until it was topped by another Cameron film, Avatar. Example: Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed, / And my invention thrive, Edmund the base / Shall top th' legitimate. I grow; I prosper 4. To be in the lead, to be at number one position (of). Example: Celine Dion topped the UK music charts twice in the 1990s. Example: 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. 5. To cut or remove the top (as of a tree) Example: I don't want to be bald, so just top my hair. Example: Top and tail the carrots. 6. To commit suicide. Labels: Australia, UK, reflexive, slang Example: Depression causes many people to top themselves. 7. To murder or execute. Labels: Australia, UK, archaic, rare, slang Example: 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. Example: I used to be a slave, but I ended up topping. Example: Giving advice to the dominant partner on how to run the BDSM session is called "topping from the bottom". 9. To penetrate during sexual intercourse. Labels: intransitive, transitive 10. To rise aloft; to be eminent; to tower. Labels: archaic Example: topping passions Example: lofty and topping mountains 11. To excel; to rise above others. Labels: archaic 12. To raise one end of (a yard, etc.), making it higher than the other. 13. To cover with another dye. Example: to top aniline black with methyl violet to prevent greening 14. To put a stiffening piece or back on (a saw blade). 15. To arrange (fruit, etc.) with the best on top. Labels: dated, slang 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.